In its second motorsports competition ever, the Ford Focus RS RX race car has managed to snag a spot on the podium in the FIA World Rallycross Championship event in Hockenheim, Germany. Given his long and illustrious history with the Focus, it should come as no surprise that perennial performance enthusiast Ken Block was at the wheel of the Focus RS RX as it crossed the finish line in third place.

The Focus RS RX was built as a collaboration between Ford Performance, M-Sport, and Hoonigan Racing Division, and debuted last month at the World RX season opener in Portugal. Block took the 600 horsepower hot hatch into 12th place during qualifying, setting himself up for the eventual podium finish.

“I’m so stoked to get on the podium in the second event! Andreas finished fourth in Portugal, and now I’m third here,” says Block, referring to teammate Andreas Bakkerud. “We’re really stoked on the way this is going. Now, we just need to work on consistency,” Block added in a post-race interview. “We’re getting closer. Times felt better today; the car felt better today. Hopefully we can just keep pushing.”

The Focus RS RX is basically a balls-to-the-wall version of the street-legal Focus RS, and Block had plenty of input into the competition version of Ford’s hot hatch. Amazingly enough, this was only Block’s second podium finish in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, although it’s starting to look like he has plenty ahead of him as well.

Block, Bukkerud and the Focus RS RX will be back on action this weekend at Circuit Jules Tacheny in Mettet, Belgium.