Monster World Rally Team driver Ken Block has talked about how Colin McRae inspired him to start rallying.

Block, whose new team made its debut in the World Rally Championship on last week's Rally Mexico, said he felt an affinity with the 1995 World Rally Champion, who he got to know as a friend and competitor at the X-Games competition in America.

"In the Nineties, I watched as much rallying as I could," said Block, "and I was definitely a Colin [McRae] fan. McRae was my favourite and one of the main reasons I'm here.

"Colin inspired me in his style, his charisma and what he could do with a car. He was the epitome of what I love about rallying.

"To actually become friends with him and then compete with him in the X-Games, I was truly a lucky, lucky person. He and I had a really good friendship and it was really sad to have him go.

"You remember I did the thing in the ski resort? Well, that was like a week before he died. He called me to ask me all about it and he was so stoked, saying: 'I can't wait to see that footage.' It's unfortunate that I never got to show that to him."

Block's next WRC outing will be Rally Turkey, where he will be chasing a finish without having to use superally, as he did in Mexico.

Despite breaking a wheel on his Ford Focus RS WRC 08 on Saturday morning, Block admitted he was pleased with his pace on the Leon-based event.

"I was running in eighth place on the first day," he said, "and I was really happy with that. What I did was a novice mistake, and I'll learn from that. But for the pace, I was really pleased. Just before we went off, after 23 kilometers, we were only six seconds slower than Jari-Matti [Latvala]."

Block was classified 18th in Mexico, after missing eight stages on Saturday and returning under superally regulations on Sunday.

Source: http://www.autosport.com