Just hours before the start of the second round of the 2022 American Rally Association series, seven-time rally winner Ken Block revealed he will be competing an ex-works Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, that the Hoonigan Racing Division will field for the ARA series this season.
Block has previously run a Subaru WRX STi in the series last season after parting ways with Ford Performance, and will now drive another new car. The i20 Coupe WRC has been brought over from Europe to the United States just in time for the 100 Acre Wood Rally in Missouri.
The car started it’s life in 2019 as chassis #18 for Hyundai Motorsport where the drivers Sébastien Loeb and Andreas Mikkelsen drove the car, it was later transfered over to Hyundai’s 2C Competition team and was used by Pierre-Louis Loubet, Ole-Christian Veiby and Oliver Solberg.
After Solberg crashed the car in Rally Kenya last year, the car got rebuilt to chassis #18A for the season remainder. For the ARA series, the i20 Coupe WRC car begins a new chapter of it’s life as the car have been modified for the Open 4WD class with de-tuned 34mm turbo restrictor and added weight to meet the minimum weight requirements.
Ken Block is not the only driver to represent the Block family this weekend, his wife Lucy Block will also enter the Open 4WD class in a Ford Fiesta Rally3 and their daughter Lia Block will be entering the Open 2WD class in an older-spec Ford Fiesta R2.
“This might be my favorite season of rally in the U.S. ever. Great competition and I’m driving a modern-era WRC car all year!! This is epic! And, my wife is stepping up to open class in an AWD car, AND my daughter Lia is competing in a proper FWD turbo car – all as one team,” explained Block.
“ All three of us have been preparing and building up to this kind of family setup, so it’s really rad to be here. And we’re kicking it off in my favorite rally of the year, The Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. It’s going to be a FUN year.”
