Friday 02/12/2010

The Mexico Test: Now With More Snow!

Last week after the WRC's official season launch event in Paris, the Monster World Rally Team headed north to M-Sport's headquarters in sunny ol' Cockermouth, England for some much needed seat time in the MWRT Focus RS WRC. Unfortunately, Block and Gelsomino were greeted with a few inches of white stuff covering the once gravel test stage they were set to run. To point out the obvious for the uninitiated...the chances of snow at Rally Mexico are nil, and if it does blizzard, it will surely be the sign of the apocalypse. That said, the gravel test was moot.

"I am really disappointed," says Ken Block. "It’s already going to be very hard going into my WRC premiere with very little seat time in the car. Now, I may not have any seat time at all!" While attempts were made to still utilize the testing despite the conditions, it was to no avail. "The stage was downright scary...gravel tires just do not work on ice," explains Block.

The team hopes to be able to schedule another day to test next week before we ship off to Missouri for the 100 Acre Wood Rally, which leads directly into our inaugural WRC race: Rally Mexico. Stay tuned!

RANDOM FACTOID: MotoGP star Valentino Rossi has more seat time in a Formula One car than Ken Block currently has in a WRC car even though Ken is headed to race in the WRC, and Rossi has never raced F1. Yup, it's going to be an interesting year.