Testing crash forces car swap for Block

Ken Block will start Wales Rally GB on Thursday night with a replacement Ford Focus RS WRC following a testing crash on Monday.

The Monster World Rally Team star inflicted substantial damage to his original mount during the incident in Greystoke Forest, Cumbria, UK at the start of the week.

Greystoke is the private test facility of M-Sport, which is running Block’s maiden World Rally Championship campaign.

Team mechanics set about readying a replacement Focus for Block when it became obvious that the damage to the car’s roll cage could not be repaired in time to enable Block to take part in the pre-event shakedown in Cardiff tonight.

Block, who claimed his first WRC points with a ninth-place finish on RACC Rally de Espana last month, had completed four runs when his car aquaplaned on some water as he approached a right-hand bend. The car went into a ditch before striking a tree.

Neither Block nor his co-driver Alex Gelsomino suffered any injuries and began the reconnaissance for Rally GB on schedule on Tuesday morning.

A spokesperson for the Monster World Rally Team confirmed that treacherous conditions had contributed to the accident, which was captured by Block’s onboard camera, with slush and snow coating some sections of the all-gravel stage.

Block, who turns 43 the week following Rally GB, has never tackled the Cardiff-based event before. He is one of 15 drivers in a World Rally Cars taking part on the world championship finale, which marks the end of an era for the current generation machines.

Although his 2011 programme has yet to be finalised it is expected that Block will contest an expanded programme of world events in a Monster World Rally Team Ford Fiesta WRC.