Motorsport Musings Ramblings of a racing enthusiast…

New Kid on the Block

The World Rally Championship has just received a major shot in the arm, following the confirmation today that American rally and extreme sports star Ken Block has (finally) closed a deal to form the all-new Monster World Rally Team.

This multi-year deal represents one of the most significant in the sport’s history. After years of trying to burrow a way into North America, it seems Block and his multi-million Internet following could well provide the series with just that sort of opening.

Something WRC promoter Simon Long is only too well aware of, recently saying:

“Ken Block is an iconic figure in US motorsport and a major box office personality. It wouldn’t get much better than this for the WRC going into North America. We talk about an epic motorsport adventure in the WRC and Ken is certainly an epic kind of guy.

“His gymkhana videos have achieved something like 22 million impressions on the ‘net; okay, this is not traditional rallying, but it’s using rally cars in a way the man in the street understands. That’s what we’re trying to achieve.”

A strong Stateside rally remains the WRC’s very own American dream. With the arrival of ISC as the brand’s global promoter as well as commercial rights holder, Block’s move can be seen as a pivotal moment to the sport’s development.

Block’s WRC programme is expected to start from round two in Mexico, with his team-mate likely to be announced as Chris Atkinson, who has remained a free agent for most of 2009 after the loss of his own Subaru WRC drive – and he and Block are the best of friends.

Driving 2009-spec Ford Focus RS WRCs prepared by M-Sport, the Monster duo will use this season to get up to speed in the WRC, before unleashing a full assault on the entire series next year.

A new dimension to the WRC as a global sport has arrived and there is a lot of excitement around this deal. Forget a certain bored F1 driver. Block is where it’s at this year.