Kimi Going For Rally Finland!

From Autosport.com | Q&A with Kaj Lindstrom
 
Ferrari Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen will make his World Rally
Championship debut when he contests his home round of the series, Rally
Finland, next month.

Raikkonen has already competed in three rallies this year, but the
Jyvaskyla-based ninth round of the WRC will be his first competitive
outing on gravel. The Finn, who won the F1 world championship with
Ferrari in 2007, tested the Abarth Grande Punto for two days in central
Finland earlier this week.

Raikkonen will be co-driven by Kaj Lindstrom, the former co-driver
of four-time world champion Tommi Makinen. Makinen’s own racing team
will run the Abarth for Raikkonen.

Lindstrom has contested Rally Finland 10 times, finishing sixth
twice with Makinen, and admits the 29-year-old Raikkonen will face a
difficult task when he starts his first WRC round.

"Rally Finland is not going to be easy for sure," said Lindstrom.
"The rallies we have done so far have been smaller events, a three-day
WRC round is much longer and more intense than those national events.

"And it doesn’t just start with the rally, we have two days to go
through the recce and make the notes. Kimi makes very good pace notes,
but there will be pressure on for the recce."

Lindstrom added that his driver’s absence of gravel experience will also make his task tougher next month.

"He has competed on snow and asphalt, but never gravel, but we have
tested on gravel," said Lindstrom. "But one of the hardest things for
Kimi will be the speed of this event. Rally Finland and the roads used
are so fast, like nothing we have done before – that does take time.

"But, let’s not forget, this guy is a pretty good driver! He’s very talented and I’m sure he will cope fine."

Raikkonen finished 13th in the Arctic Rally in January, his rally
debut. He returned to snow rallying and held seventh overall in the
Vaakuna Rally, before putting the Abarth off the road and ending the
event 17th. His asphalt debut came on the Rally della Marca in Italy in
May, where he damaged a wheel and retired on the third stage.

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Interview with Kimi’s co-driver

Ferrari Formula 1 driver
Kimi Raikkonen and his co-driver Kaj Lindstrom have just completed
their first test for Rally Finland. Lindstrom told AUTOSPORT about the
last two days and how Raikkonen is progressing in their Tommi Makinen
Racing-run Super 2000 Abarth.

Q. How was the test?

Kaj Lindstrom: It was okay. Actually, it was more than okay, it was
very good. We did some work with the suspension and the differential.
By the time we had finished, the car was running definitely better than
at the start of the test. There’s still some work for us to do before
the next test, but we’ve made a good step forward. It was good for Kimi
to be on the gravel as well – and in some kind of conditions that we
could expect on the event itself: the sun was shining and we had 24
degrees.

Q. How many kilometres did you do?

KL: I can’t remember in the first day, but yesterday we did about
130 or something like that. Really, it was about making the car
suitable for him. Everybody tends to be going the same way with these
kind of cars and, of course, Tommi has done some driving in the car.

Q. Did you find some big jumps?

KL: We were testing in the Jyvaskyla area, so it wasn’t hard to find a road with big jumps!

Q. Do you think he will be ready for the jumps at end of Ruuhimaki?

KL: We’ve got another test before the event and by the time we get
to Ruuhimaki on Sunday afternoon we’ll have done a few jumps, so I’m
sure he’ll be ready for them.

Q. You’ve co-driven Tommi to victory on a World Rally Championship
round and sat with other rally drivers, how does Kimi compare with
them?

KL: Obviously, Kimi’s knowledge on rally cars is not the same as
Tommi, but the feedback from Kimi is always accurate and the same as
what Tommi is saying. The difference is that, given he is a four-time
World Rally champion, Tommi has a much wider knowledge of what is
available to put the problems right with the car, he knows the full
range of alternatives, whereas Kimi is still learning about those.

Right from the start though, right from the first test I did with
Kimi in Rovaniemi at the start of the season, his talent inside the car
is quite clear to see. One of the best things about working with Kimi
is that you can constantly see the improvements. He is going forward
all of the time. When you tell him some tips to do something like this
or like that, he takes that information and uses it straight away. He
learns something on every rally, and that was clear at the test as
well.

Q. And are you both looking forward to Rally Finland?

KL: Of course, it’s always nice to do an event like Finland. And
for Kimi it’s always been some sort of dream for him to do that rally.
And, like I said, it’s good for me to do Finland, this will be my 11th
time on my home WRC round.

Q. But there’s going to be a lot of interest in you both…

KL: Yes, there will be a lot of people coming to the rally just to
see Kimi, but I think that’s a good thing for the WRC and for the whole
show. At the moment, some of the WRC rounds are not so interesting and
they need some kind of a boost – and this is going to be good for
Finland.

Q. How are you physically? I thought your hip operation – following
the accident you had in Argentina 2002 – had ruled you out of any more
co-driving?

KL: I saw the FIA doctors last year and they gave me the green
light to be back in the car. That’s how this is possible for me. It’s
good to be back in business.