If you’re rising 12th grader Lia Block, life moves pretty fast. We caught up with Ken and Lucy Block’s eldest daughter just a few weeks ago to record a podcast in prep for a feature in the upcoming summer issue of quattro Magazine. At the time, she’d just won her class in the American Rally Association series and was headed for some testing with Nitrocross NEXT before landing at Pikes Peak to make an exhibition run in Ken Block’s Hoonipigasus Porsche 911. Since then, word’s broken she’s landed a seat in the globe-trotting Extreme E electric rally series with Carl Cox Motorsport and alongside teammate (and former Audi Sport DTM Champion) Timo Scheider.
In case you hadn’t been following the series, Extreme E was the FIA’s second experimentation into an all-electric series following Formula E. Like Formula E before it, the Extreme E rally series began with spec-racing cars and remains in that phase for now. Even still, competition is pretty fierce, with notable teams and personalities having joined the series. Among them, there are several familiar faces and organizations in Formula E even if Audi as a brand hasn’t signed on. They’re worth noting, as ur quattro-owning Lia now races along side them and will gain critical rallying experience as she continues her upward trajectory in the sport.
Familiar in the team lineup is ABT Sportsline. Though Audi chose to sit out Extreme E, ABT is a longtime partner in both the DTM and GT3 racing. Here, they’r partnered with Audi’s Spanish sister brand Supra (a.k.a. SEAT), and one of their drivers is Nasser Al-Attiyah who is also a notable front-runner competitor to Audi at the Dakar Rally. Mattias Ekström, another former Audi DTM champion, is also a current Audi Sport RS Q e-tron Dakar team driver. American born and typically Volkswagen contracted Tanner Foust is part of the Neon McLaren team (a team for whom Audi Le Mans engineer Leena Gade is also working), while Rosberg X Racing features Mikaela Ählin Kottulinsky – granddaughter of former Audi Sport rally driver Freddy Kottulinsky, and whose family is extremely active with the European Audi driving experience program.
Another interesting aspect of Extreme E is that each team has two drivers, one male and one female. Lia replaces Christine GZ at Carl Cox Motorsport for the remainder of the season. She joins Extreme E for tier next round, the Island X Prix July 8-9 that takes place on the Italian Island of Sardinia.
On joining Extreme E, Block said: “I am thrilled to be making my Extreme E debut at the next round in Sardinia for the Island X Prix.
“It is a huge opportunity to race for Carl Cox Motorsport and I cannot wait to get behind the wheel and out on the course. I am eager to do my best for the team and score some good results.
“I am really looking forward to working alongside Timo [Scheider], who I have known for years, and the rest of the team – it is going to be my first race outside of the USA, and up against so many big names in the sport, but I am looking forward to the challenge and keen to get started.”
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