Lia Block’s four-wheel drive rally debut is done after her Ford Escort Cosworth stopped with an engine problem on the Lake Superior Performance Memorial Rally.
With America’s open two-wheel title already sorted, the 17-year-old graduated to drive her father Ken Block’s Escort Cosworth on this week’s ARA finale. Running fourth overall after three stages, the car refused to fire going into the loop’s final test.
Block told DirtFish: “I went to start the car and it’s not starting. We tried everything we can and it’s not something we can fix on our own. It sucks. We pushed it forwards, we pushed it backwards, we tried to jump it, but it wouldn’t work.
“We were really enjoying this rally and I was putting down some pretty good stage times. I was looking forward to the rest of this rally, but I guess it’s cut short.”
Block House Racing was recovering the car to service in an effort to further diagnose the issue and decide if a return to the stages is possible for Saturday’s second and final day.
Reflecting on her debut in the car, Block added: “It felt really good. I like going fast! In testing, we didn’t have many fast sections, so I was just getting comfortable in the quicker corners and trusting the car to stay on the road.
“I was slowly getting confidence and through this next day I would have gone faster. It’s unfortunate, it gave us a taste of a four-wheel drive car and it was a lot of fun while it lasted.”
