Sebastien Ogier
and Kimi Raikkonen are ready for Rally de Portugal
After the long trip to New Zealand, the World Rally Championship gets
back to European soil this weekend. The Rallye de Portugal, round six of
the season, will be an excellent opportunity for Sébastien Ogier and
Julien Ingrassia to underline their recent strong performances. Kimi
Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström have not done a rally for a month now, but
they will aim to continue their progress with the Citroen C4 WRC.
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia are continuing their march towards
the very top level of world rallying. The duo reached the second step of
the podium for the first time on the 2009 Acropolis Rally, and secured a
similar result in New Zealand two weeks ago. “Our initial programme
didn’t actually even include this round,” said Sébastien. “I have to
thank the entire team for making it possible for us to enter New Zealand
– particularly because we obtained a result there that surpassed
expectations. It’s a very good sign for the future; we’ve felt confident
since the start of the season and just got quicker and quicker. For our
first trip to New Zealand it was an excellent performance, and we
really enjoyed driving the Citroën C4 WRC on those stages. ”
The Citroën Junior Team driver starts the Rallye de Portugal lying
fourth in the World Championship standings and his objectives remain
unchanged. “We’re going to stick with the same plan we’ve had since the
beginning of the season,” added Sébastien. “Even though this is a rally
that I know a bit about already, we need to make sure that there are no
mistakes in Portugal and that we rack up the kilometres. It will be a
great achievement if we can fight for a podium again. Starting the first
day fourth on the road should be quite a good position for us.”
New Zealand did not form part of the scheduled programme for Kimi
Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström, who return to the Citroën C4 WRC in
Portugal. The former F1 World Champion will continue learning how to
drive a WRC challenger on gravel over the demanding Portuguese stages.
Having retired in Mexico, finished eighth in Jordan and claimed fifth in
Turkey, the 30-year-old Finn will have to get to grips with another new
event for him in Portugal, one of the classic rounds of the World Rally
Championship.
“The short break did me a lot of good,” said Kimi. “We were able to sit
down and analyse our start to the season, concentrating on specific
details such as making pace notes and comparing our times to those of
the frontrunners. A few kilometres of testing also meant that I was able
to quickly get back up to speed in the car. I know that we still have a
lot to learn because rallying remains a completely new sport for me,
but I feel that we are making consistent progress.”
In Portugal, for his fifth event at the wheel of the Citroën C4 WRC,
Kimi Räikkönen is also retaining the same targets. “I said from the very
start that it was just a question of learning,” he pointed out. “We
need to have everything in hand before trying to accelerate and chase
the leaders. So it is necessary for us to get more and more experience.
That’s going to be our goal in Portugal once more.”
In order to prepare for round five of the season, both drivers took part
in a gravel test session in eastern France at the end of this week.
Three questions to… Benoit Nogier Citroën Junior Team Manager
Let’s look back at the trip to New
Zealand… adding this event to Sébastien Ogier’s programme certainly
worked out well!
“New Zealand was a great experience for the entire team. Once again,
Sébastien was extremely happy with the car. He pushed hard from start to
finish, don’t forget, without anybody at all telling him what to do. He
was constantly flat-out, and I hope he keeps that feeling within him.
It’s the first time that he has been forced to push that hard all the
way to the finish. He’ll need to remember that whole experience in order
to do it again in the future!”
Since the start of the season, none of
the Citroën Junior Team C4 WRCs have experienced any mechanical
problems. That must be a huge source of satisfaction for a Team Manager?
“It’s just down to the hard work of all the team over several months.
Citroën Racing’s design office has produced the best World Rally Car and
we are doing everything we can to make the most of it. From the people
who prepare the spare parts package to the engineers who analyse data
during the debriefs, it’s a long-term job that has allowed us to enjoy
this high degree of reliability. We take a huge amount of care when it
comes to the preparation of our two cars and our drivers benefit from
that. This rigour and discipline in our working practices means that we
are right up there and able to score the sort of results that everyone
has seen so far this year.”
Now the season continues in Portugal:
an event that Sébastien Ogier already knows but another brand new one
for Kimi Räikkönen. Do the objectives change at all?
“Kimi’s target is continue the work he has started since the start of
the season: no more and no less. He will undoubtedly face a tougher task
than he did in Turkey, as all the drivers already know Portugal whereas
he has it still to learn. He’s very aware that there’s a long road
ahead of him, but together with Kaj he is adopting an extremely
professional approach. He needs to carry on in the same calm frame of
mind, even though this will inevitably take some time. As for Sébastien,
he also needs to stay on track and stay cool. Despite his recent
results, he has certainly never let success go to his head and that is a
crucial attitude he must preserve. It’s important to keep a clear view
on everything and while Sébastien still has a lot to learn, it would
seemingly not be too presumptuous to aim for a podium in Portugal. His
goal at the start of the rally will be to fight with the four factory
drivers. We’re clearly somewhat ahead of the plan we established at the
start of the year, but the mission is by no means completely
accomplished. Sébastien needs to get to the end of a rally now with no
mistakes.”
Kimi expecting tough time in Portugal
Kimi Raikkonen believes that the forthcoming Portugal Rally will be a
much tougher test than the Rally of Turkey: the last event he contested,
where he scored a career-best fifth place.
While Turkey – based in Istanbul for the first time – was a new event
for everybody, the Portugal route is much more established. Raikkonen
expects his inexperience to show on the gravel stages, while his rivals
will be able to use their prior knowledge.
“It’s going to be tougher than Turkey, for sure,” said the 2007 Formula
One World Champion. “That’s normal when everybody else has been there
before but it is completely new for me. Nothing has changed though: I
just want to get some more experience and reach the finish. It’s not
realistic to expect anything more.”
After missing Rally New Zealand – which was not on his schedule for this
year – Raikkonen has been away from competition for over a month,
although he recently completed a test session in France to reacquaint
himself with the Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC.
“That was useful,” concluded the 30-year-old. “But testing is one thing
and competition is another. It’s not like racing: the surfaces are
always completely different.”
FUCK ISRAEL 
thank you fo special photos, Saima!!!!!!!!!
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