Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino spent most part of their Tuesday preparing for the start of the upcoming Rally Deutschland. Indeed, after arriving at Brauneberg, Germany, the pair fired up their Monster Energy Ford Focus RS and immediately got down to the business of acclimatizing themselves to driving on tarmac roads.

“With zero tarmac rounds in the Rally America series, Alex and I are at a huge disadvantage here in Germany,” commented Block on the official MWRT blog. “We have only raced two tarmac events before, and while we did win both of those events, I have no expectations of keeping up with the veteran drivers here.”

Luckily Ford’s factory driver, Jari-Matti Latvala, was on hand to give Block a few pointers along the way. Riding shotgun in the MWRT Focus, Latvala showed the gymkhana star how best to attack the black stuff and consequently trim the most time from his overall stage times.

“Sitting in the car with Jari-Matti made me well aware of how much I still have to learn about tarmac driving.” said Block. “It’s going to be a challenge, but a good one. This test was one of the best days I have ever had in rally car. I am really looking forward to improving my skills on sealed surfaces as I put down more and more stage miles on tarmac not just here in Germany, but over our next two rallies as well.”

By the end of the day’s test the pair were clearly showing improvement across the test stage which should, hopefully, stand them in good stead when Rally Deutschland kicks off this coming Friday.

[Source and Pic: Monster World Rally Team]