WRC Kimi’s blog – GOOD LUCK KIMI!

After the shakedown I had a bit of a chance to relax on the terrace at
the hotel and look at the view over the Dead Sea. It’s such a hectic
life that it’s nice to empty your head sometimes and think of nothing
much. And what’s the point of going to all these different places if you
don’t take the time to look at them occasionally? My life used to be a
blur of airports and circuits and hotels but I’m determined to enjoy
myself this year.

Jordan is a completely new experience for me, but that’s normal as more
or less everything this year is new to me. Let’s just say that the whole
atmosphere and way of working here is quite different to Formula One,
but the challenges are even bigger for me.

I was thinking about that this morning when I drove the shakedown: I
still have so few kilometres in the Citroen C4 WRC; basically a couple
of hundred and that’s it. And now I’m starting a gravel rally that even
the real experts say is quite tough. So I think it’s going to be an
interesting few days. The main thing is to learn: you don’t suddenly
find a load of time from out of nowhere in this game.

I have to say that I really like the world of rallying so far. It’s
impossible to compare it to Formula One as it would be like comparing a
square to a triangle, but everything seems just a bit more relaxed and
friendly. Everyone has been very welcoming, but there’s still room for
me to be myself.

The shakedown this morning was quite rough, but I think we could see
some parts of the rally that are like this too, so it was good
preparation. For me the main thing is going to be reaching the finish,
as on an event that is as specialised as this one, you really need to
see every stage. We had a good recce, although it was a bit warm as the
air conditioning wasn’t working in the recce car. Strangely, it was
actually cooler in the rally car at shakedown – as you have a huge air
scoop in the roof that gives you a pretty good supply of cool air once
you’re moving.