Ken Block’s World Rallycross Team is Calling it Quits

You won’t see Ken Block on the starting grid of World Rallycross next season.

The 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship season will be the last for the Hoonigan Racing team, at least for the foreseeable future. The team, which consists of drivers Ken Block and Andreas Bakkerud, is backed by Ford Performance and it sounds like the group wasn’t looking forward to investing more money into developing a new race car for the series.

“Although we have thoroughly enjoyed competing in the exciting FIA World Rallycross Championship, it’s a natural time for us to take a break as the future of the series takes shape,” said Dave Pericak, global director of Ford Performance. “To continue in [the championship] would have required the development of a new race car, and with so much discussion happening around the future of rallycross from a powertrain package standpoint, it made sense for us to pause until it’s better defined.”

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If you’re a fan of Block however, this news doesn’t change too much for his relationship with Ford. In an Instagram post, Block confirmed he will be racing next season but he will be going back to doing stage rallies, Gymkhana GRID races, and “more rad video projects with Ford as usual.”

The news comes after Block and Bakkerud have competed nearly two seasons in the Focus RS RX race car. They won’t go on sale once the season is done either, instead they will be used for displays and demos based on pre-existing agreements with Ford Performance.

Well, today is a tough one for me. Ford Performance and myself have announced that we will not be continuing our World Rallycross Championship race program after the end of this current season. It’s been a tough two years of developing the Focus RS RX rallycross car, and I’ve learned a ton from that process – as well as from my teammate Andreas Bakkerud. I’ll still be racing in 2018, but I’ll be going back to doing some stage rallies, Gymkhana GRID races, plus more rad video projects with Ford as usual. As for Andreas, I wish him nothing but the best of luck next season. He’s been an exemplary teammate, and has ended up becoming a very good friend of mine as well. Someone is going to be landing themselves a very, very talented driver next season! I’d also like to say a BIG thank you to my entire Hoonigan Racing team for their relentless effort and dedication these last two years. We’ve had some great experiences, and I’m both proud and thankful for all of the hard work you’ve all put in to help this program.

A post shared by Ken Block (@kblock43) on Oct 4, 2017 at 8:13am PDT

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