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Block stoked after day one in the WRC

"This is a great first day result"

By Franck Drui

6 March 2010 - 12:08

Monster World Rally Team driver Ken Block says he is pleasantly surprised by his first day of WRC competition today which ended with him holding tenth place overall in Rally Mexico.

The American extreme sports star finished inside the top ten on all but two of Friday’s nine stages and despite losing time after hitting a rock in the afternoon, he ended the day 13.5sec adrift of experienced WRC competitor Federico Villagra in ninth.

"When I got to the end of the first stage, and I was told my time in comparison to the other drivers, I asked if they were joking," Block told wrc.com. "Alex Gelsomino and I were ninth fastest on that stage. I even surprised myself. I’ve been managing my own expectations coming into this race, so for me this is a great first day result."

"And it certainly wasn’t an easy first day, we had some issues with the car early in the morning and then on stage six we pegged a massive rock that was dead centre in the road, there was nothing I could do to avoid it. The impact flipped the master switch and it cost us a minute to figure out what went wrong."

"And then to finish the day, we even got a puncture on the last Super Special when I kissed a bank... All in all, my first day in the WRC was quite eventful. And for both Alex and I and the rest of the Monster World Rally Team, it was just an excellent way to enter this amazing championship. And, yes, I am very stoked...”