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RALLY GB: BLOCK BREAKS INTO THE TOP 10 ON LEG TWO

Having put leg one of Rally GB behind them, MWRT’s Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino started off Saturday’s racing sitting in 12th place overall. Fortunately for the pair, the rains and heavy fog of Friday’s afternoon/evening stages were replaced with blue skies over Wales for leg two.

RALLY GB: BLOCK SURVIVES THE FOG ATTACK

After two days of racing spent crisscrossing northern Wales, Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino have successfully completed the first leg of 2011’s final WRC round, Rally GB. Taking place in the wet and foggy forests of Wales, the conditions have proven to be less than ideal for all-out speed, with heavy mists and fogs settling in on the late-day forest stages and cutting visibility down to nil.

WRC SPAIN: TOUGH TIMES FOR BLOCK

After a solid effort and some quick times on Saturday’s day 2 stages, MWRT’s Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino were gearing themselves up for a solid, final day of racing at WRC Spain. While most-likely unable to score points or move too far up the standings after coming back under SuperRally rules following Friday’s hidden-concrete-chunk-at-the-end-of-a-corner-meets-steering-arm incident, Block was ready to continue building on his tarmac rally experience.

WRC SPAIN: BLOCK DUSTS HIMSELF OFF

Following a disappointing first day of WRC Spain that saw MWRT’s duo of Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino knocked out midway through the first stage of the rally due to a broken steering arm—caused by a dust-covered piece of concrete at the end of a corner that also caught out former World Champion Petter Solberg and at-the-time current S2000 class-leader Ott Tänak—the two were back for action on Saturday’s racing under SuperRally rules.

BLOCK TAKES DC ATHLETES FOR A SLIDE THROUGH O'NEIL'S

Testing rally cars at the Team O'Neil Rally School sounds pretty standard - until you mention words like "Supercross Champion", "Olympic Gold Medalist", "DC Pro Team" and "scared s#!%less". While some of DC's pro athletes were taking lessons in the art of gravel driving at the school, Ken Block took a few for rides in his Rally America spec Ford Fiesta and Mk2 Ford Escort RS.

RALLY RACING: THE FINAL FRONTIER, FOR AMERICA

A loyal Monster World Rally Team fan recently said “More Americans have walked on the moon, than have scored WRC points.” We thought that was pretty wild, until we saw  the image above - that’s when our minds were blown. That’s twelve men shot 238,857 miles from U.S. soil to walk on the moon, yet only four American drivers who have ever claimed World Rally Championship driver’s points - with Ken Block being the latest to do so in 2010 and 2011.

To put that into perspective, check out the stats below.

WRC FRANCE: FAN SUBMITTED CLIPS

Monster World Rally team loves when fans upload video clips from anywhere, especially WRC races. Here are our five favorite picks from this year's running of Rallye de France.

WRC FRANCE: BLOCK TEARS UP THE TARMAC

Monster World Rally Team driver Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino set two personal bests at this past weekend’s Rallye de France. While the duo charged hard throughout all three days of racing, they turned it up a notch for Sunday’s final stages, laying down a blistering pace at times that not only netted Block his fastest stage finish ever (4th fastest on SS18), but also his best WRC event finish of 8th overall, securing 4 points in the 2011 driver’s championship, doubling what he brought home last year during his rookie season.

WRC FRANCE: BLOCK CONTINUES HIS CHARGE

Building on a solid day 1 of racing, MWRT’s Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino continued with their attack for a top 10 ranking at WRC France throughout Saturday’s stages. Day 2 was filled with quick pace from Block, who started in the morning sitting 13th overall and he entered into the mid-day service having moved up three slots to 10th overall, a position which he’d be fighting for throughout the afternoon with French driver Pierre Campana. When the day was over, Block found himself in 11th, a mere 7-seconds seconds behind Campana’s 10th overall position.

WRC FRANCE: PARLEZ VOUS TARMAC?

Just two weeks after racing in Australia on gravel, Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino found themselves back on the paved roads yesterday, this time in the Alsace region of France for the latest stop of the 2011 WRC circuit. Marking just the second tarmac rally of the season and only the second time Block had raced in his 2011 Ford Fiesta RS WRC on asphalt, Block started the event on Friday morning in 16th position and set a quick pace that was good enough to help him break into 10th overall going into the mid-day break.

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