Gymkhana Grid

Gymkhana Grid
SportGymkhana
First season2010
Owner(s)Ken Block
CountryWorldwide

Gymkhana Grid is a gymkhana car race held annually in different venues around the world since 2010.[1]

It was co-founded by racecar driver Ken Block, clothing brand DC Shoes and promoter Chris Willard. However, the 2011 edition was cancelled after business conflicts and Willard left the organization.[2]

The racecourse is symmetrical, so drivers make a timed run on each one. The driver with best aggregate times advances to the next round of the bracket. Courses have tight corners, which encourage drivers to apply drifting techniques, and feature obstacles such as barrels, tyres, ship containers and tanks.

The event features several rallycross and drifting champions and also amateur racers, sometimes split in different classes. Likewise, each event had all-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive classes, except at the X Games Los Angeles 2013 where there was a single AWD class.

From 2013 to 2016, there were qualifier events held in different venues in Europe.

Winners

Edition Venue AWD RWD Ref
2010 United States Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale United States Tanner Foust Ford Fiesta Japan Daijiro Yoshihara Nissan S13 [3]
2012 United Kingdom Santa Pod Raceway, Podington United Kingdom Dmitrij Sribnyj Subaru Impreza Netherlands Remmo Niezen BMW E30
2013
(X Games)
United States Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale United States Tanner Foust Ford Fiesta - - [4]
2013 Spain Ciudad del Rock, Arganda del Rey Spain Nani Roma Mini Australia Luke Fink Nissan S13 [5]
2014 Spain Ciudad del Rock, Arganda del Rey United States Ken Block Ford Fiesta United Kingdom Luke Woodham Nissan S14 [6]
2015 United Kingdom Santa Pod Raceway, Podington United Kingdom Dmitrij Sribnyj Subaru Impreza United Kingdom Luke Woodham Nissan S14 [7]
2016 Greece Marathon, Greece Norway Petter Solberg Citroën Xsara United Kingdom Luke Woodham Nissan S14 [8]
2017 South Africa Carnival City, Brakpan Sweden Johan Kristoffersson Volkswagen Polo United Kingdom Luke Woodham Nissan S14 [9]
2018 South Africa Carnival City, Brakpan Sweden Johan Kristoffersson Volkswagen Polo Japan Daigo Saito Chevrolet Corvette [10]
2019 Poland Ptak Warsaw Expo, Warsaw Norway Petter Solberg Volkswagen Polo Lithuania Mantas Šliogeris Mazda MX-5 [11]

See also

References

  1. ^ When The Rodeo Came To Town - Remembering The Gymkhana Grid Ken Block Invitational - Bob Hernandez, Super Street / Motor Trend, 10 August 2020
  2. ^ DC Shoes aiming to shut down Gymkhana GRID events for trademark infringement - Drew Phillips, Autoblog, 4 October 2011
  3. ^ Tanner Foust shreds at Ken Block Invitational Gymkhana Grid - Michael Harley, Autoblog, 6 December 2010
  4. ^ First X Games Gymkhana GRID race is officially in the books - Jeremy Korzeniewski, Autoblog, 4 August 2013
  5. ^ Gymkhana Grid, el espectáculo visitó Madrid - Igor Zamorano, Motorpasión, 03 November 2013
  6. ^ Ken Block takes 2014 Gymkhana GRiD final top spot - Vince Pettit, The Checkered Flag, 3 November 2014
  7. ^ Gymkhana GRiD Final lights up Santa Pod - Dominik Wilde, The Checkered Flag, 27 October 2015
  8. ^ Petter Solberg se console avec le Gymkhana GRiD - Thibaut Emme, Le Blog Auto, 2 November 2016
  9. ^ Kristoffersson & Woodham win Gymkhana GRiD in South Africa - Motorsport.com, 21 November 2017
  10. ^ Gymkhana GRiD 2018 smashes record as Saito and Kristoffersson win in South Africa - Wheels24, 7 December 2018
  11. ^ Gymkhana GRiD 2019 Champions! - Extreme Sports Action, 9 October 2019