Ken Block’s hopes of taking a first Pikes Peak International Hillclimb victory have been dashed by an engine failure that led him to miss qualifying entirely, meaning he won’t be allowed to race this Sunday.
Hoonigan Racing had built a unique Porsche 911 in collaboration with BBi Autosport, branded the ‘Hoonipigasus’, with a twin-turbo flat-six engine pushing 1400 horsepower through a four-wheel-drive system.
The special build had been created to coincide with the 100th running of the Pikes Peak climb, with Block hoping to score overall victory in the car.
But engine trouble had reared its head at the very start of the week, with Block only getting in one run before trouble struck.
Despite his team’s best efforts, the Porsche’s engine could not be fixed in time to attempt a qualifying run, putting them out of the event entirely.
“The Hoonipigasus dropped a valve, causing a major engine failure, and despite the joint BBI x HRD team exhausting our resources trying to repair it (we even flew in parts and Porsche’s top motorsport tech from California!), we missed qualifying this morning, so we sadly will not be racing up Pikes Peak for the 100th running of the event,” explained Block in a social media statement.
“We are all gutted, to say the least. Betim and the rest of BBi Autosport built one hell of a car for us and did everything they could to get it back on the hill, but sometimes that’s not how racing works. “
Rhys Millen, who took overall victory at Pikes Peak in 2012 and 2015, set the fastest qualifying time on Tuesday, clocking a 2m26.441s in his E-motion Engineering-run E-Motion Porsche GT3R TT.
