As a mark of respect for rally and “Gymkhana” icon Ken Block, who died on Jan. 2 in a snowmobile accident close to his Utah ranch on the age of 55, the FIA in collaboration with World Rally Championship organizers will retire the quantity 43 for the game’s 2023 season.

Block competed below the quantity 43 from the earliest days of his motorsports profession, together with in some rounds of the WRC through the 2000s. He made his WRC debut in 2007 in Mexico and would ultimately rack up 25 begins, primarily behind the wheel of M-Sport Ford automobiles.

He additionally competed in rallycross, together with within the X Video games, and American, European, and international championships. Nonetheless, his biggest declare to fame was his “Gymkhana” movies, the primary of which was merely Block fine-tuning his rally abilities in entrance of the digital camera. That was in 2006, and the idea is nonetheless going robust as we speak.

Though Block didn’t expertise any main successes in WRC, the influence he had on the game and rallying on the whole can’t be underestimated. Because of his love of fan engagement and stunts like his “Gymkhana” movies, Block was in a position to introduce rallying to a a lot wider viewers, one thing that hasn’t gone unnoticed on the FIA.

“Whereas it’s a small gesture, we hope that it’s one that can convey some consolation to his household and buddies at the moment,” Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA’s president, stated in a press release. “Ken was a real legend and the reminiscence of this true legend will reside with us perpetually.”

This text was initially revealed by Motor Authority, an editorial companion of ClassicCars.com.