HOONIGAN is a motor racing team (full name "Hoonigan Racing Division"), formerly known as the "Monster World Rally Team". They took part in the World Rally Championship, the Red Bull Global Rallycross Series, the World Rallycross Championship and the American National Rally Championship.
FOUNDATION OF HOONIGAN RACING DIVISION
"HRD" was founded by the world famous American race car driver and showman Ken Block. The date of foundation is 2010. The "Hoonigan Racing Division" was created with the goal of Ken racing at the world championship level. The name "Hoonigan" in English slang means a person who prefers aggressive driving. This term is associated with the founder of the team, known throughout the world as the most extreme rally driver of our time.
HRD, originally sponsored by energy drink manufacturer Monster Energy, competed in select rounds of the 2011 World Rally Championship. For this, a Ford Fiesta RS WRC car was prepared.
Blok acted as a pilot, and another world-famous racer, Alex Gelsomino, received the position of navigator.
- In 2012, the team fielded another crew led by Australian rider Chris Atkinson. This season of the World Rally Championship was the only one in which HRD was represented by two crews at once. The best results were recorded in the Red Bull Global racing series.
- In 2013, Ken managed to take 3rd place, and in 2014 - 2nd. HRD has also achieved strong results in the FIA World RX.
- In 2014, this team became the third in Norway. In France in the same year, the Americans appeared at 4th place.
- In 2016, the Norwegian Andreas Bakkerud made his debut in this American team. At the same time, the pilots of the Hoonigan Racing Division moved to the new Ford Focus RS. The car was created by M-Sport specialists.
- In 2017, HRD and "Ford Performance" officially left the world championship in rallycross.
KEN BLOCK AND HOONIGAN RACING DIVISION
The creator and ideological inspirer of HRD is Ken Block. Over the years, this racing driver has taken part in various extreme motorsport competitions - rally, rallycross, snowboarding, skateboarding, motocross and gymkhana. Thanks to his active work, Ken is one of the most popular and recognizable pilots of our time. He is invited to various television shows and programs. He is also known as one of the heroes of "Need For Speed" and computer games from "Codemasters".
PARTICIPATION IN THE WRC
The brightest moment in the history of this team was participation in the World Rally Championship - WRC. HRD participated in the series for 4 years.
The debut took place on March 5, 2010 at the Rally Mexico, held in the city of Leon. Sebastien Loeb became the winner, and Blok's crew took 18th place, which can be considered as an acceptable result for beginners.
In 2010, HRD did not take part in all WRC starts. In total 6 races were missed (in Sweden, Jordan, New Zealand, Bulgaria, Finland and Japan). Only at the end of the year HRD start showing consistently high results. First there was the 12th position in France, and then the first serious success - a place in the top ten of the WRC, in Spain. Block and Gelsomino were able to impose worthy competition to the leaders - Sebastian Loeb, Sebastian Ogier, Petter Solburg, Mikko Hirvonen and others. 9th place in Spain allowed him to take 19th position in the overall standings at the end of the season.
2011 turned out to be even more successful, although the team again missed several races. On October 2, 2011, at the French stage of the series, the crew updated their own record, taking 8th position. Getting into the end zone at the end of the race in the UK also allowed to update the record for points scored in a season and take 22nd position in the overall WRC standings.
2012 did not bring significant success. At some stages, HRD again failed to rise above the 9th place and stopped at 28th position in the overall standings. At the same time, the team participated in only 3 of the 13 races held. In 2013, HRD generally limited itself to one race. But she became the most successful in the history of the team.
Block and Gelsomino managed to rise to a record 7th position in the Mexican stage. Thanks to this achievement, at the end of the season, HRD took 17th place in the overall standings. That race was the last in the World Rally Championship. It is symbolic that the path of this American team in the WRC began in Mexico and ended there.
PARTICIPATION IN WRX
Since 2014, Block's team began to participate in the "World Rallycross Championship". This racing series is the World Rallycross Championship. The series is organized by the FIA and promoted by IMG Motorsport. The first season of the WRX came just in 2014. The team did not set itself ambitious goals. "Hoonigan Racing Division" participated in only three stages, but managed to achieve very good results. At their debut race in Norway, the Americans managed to take third place on the podium, overtaking the leaders: Russian Timur Timerzyanov and Norwegian Petter Solberg. The French stage of the WRX (4th position) can also be called successful.
- Having missed whole next season, the American team managed to seriously prepare for the 2016 season. This time she was represented by two crews at once - Ken Block and Andreas Bakkerud. It was the Norwegian who became one of the heroes of the season. He managed to get 3 wins at once (races in Sweden, Norway and Argentina), taking 3rd place in the overall WRX standings. Ken was only 3rd in the race at the famous Hockenheim circuit. At the end of the season, he finished 14th.
- In the team standings, the HOONIGAN came fourth, 14 points behind the third winner "Volkswagen RX Sweden". 2017 was the last year in the WRX series. The season turned out to be less successful, although Bakkerud still submitted 4 podiums at once. In the overall standings, the Norwegian stopped at 6th position, and Ken - ninth. In the overall standings, the American team again stopped in 4th place.
TUNING DIVISION HOONIGAN
In 2014, a special tuning division - Hoonigan, was created. The author of idea was also Ken. The American presented his own projects at various tuning shows. This division is still working, and you can find out about its projects on the "TheHoonigans" YouTube channel and the official website. Block on the Ford Fiesta ST 6 times won the "Red Bull Global" stages.