Kimi Raikkonen will test his Red Bull Citroen C4 WRC more over thesecond half of the season – with 10 days of running time in the car
being set aside to get the Finn up to speed for the next seven rallies.
Raikkonen ended last week’s Rally of Portugal in 10th place, but
Citroen Junior Team manager Benoit Nogier said it was tough to expect
anything more from the largely inexperienced Finn. The former Formula 1
world champion has only just completed his seventh round of the World
Rally Championship.
"He is at the finish in Portugal – this is the most important thing,"
said Nogier.
"After that, it was a bit less good than the Rally of Turkey [where
he finished fifth], but definitely after a break of one and a half
months it was hard to get the rhythm directly and also this rally was
not new for the other drivers like it was for Kimi – and that’s
definitely a disadvantage for him. The Rally of Portugal is not an easy
one to come and learn for the first time.
"We have more testing planned for the next part of the season. Of
course, we have the Lanterna Rally coming up in Italy, which will be
Kimi’s first time on asphalt. And then we have another test for the
gravel.
"We will have maybe 10 days of testing before the end of the season.
He has a two-day test before Finland, one day and a half before Germany
and two days before GB, two days before France, one or two before
Catalunya, it’s a lot of testing. This will help for sure."
Despite expectations that Raikkonen will be quicker once he gets onto
a more familiar surface, Nogier added that it was unrealistic to expect
Raikkonen to be faster on asphalt rallies because of his racing
background.
"We know that, if we could compare F1 to a rally car, tarmac would be
closer, but this is so different, it’s too hard to say," he said.
Raikkonen admitted that his inexperience had proved particularly
costly in Portugal.
"It’s been a really tough weekend, but this is all part of the
learning process," he said. "The other drivers have been to Portugal for
the past three years, so it’s hard to be on their pace. My only
objective though was to finish the rally and gain more experience, so we
have fulfilled our goal.
"The last day was particularly difficult, as the handling of the car
did not feel right, so we decided to play it safe and make sure of a
finish. Then we hit something on the side of the road just after the
start of the first stage in the afternoon and that gave us a puncture,
which cost us a lot of time."
Kimi Eager For First Asphalt Test
Kimi Raikkonen is looking forward to finally getting his chance to
drive a Citroen C4 WRC in anger on asphalt at next week’s Rally della
Lanterna – something the Finn has been waiting to do since the start of
the season.
Until now, Raikkonen has only driven the Citroen on snow and gravel –
apart from asphalt sections of stages in New Zealand and on
superspecial stages. As part of his ramped-up asphalt test programme,
Raikkonen and his fellow Citroen Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier will
tackle the June 11/12 event in Italy.
"I’m really happy to get this opportunity to drive in Italy,"
Raikkonen said. "I’ve still got many fans there and I’m sure that there
will be a really nice atmosphere. Since the very start of the season,
I’ve always been really keen to try out the Citroen C4 WRC on asphalt.
We’re going to treat this rally as a life-sized test session."
Raikkonen has only ever driven one asphalt rally before, when he
tackled the Rally della Marca in his Abarth Garnde Punto S2000 last
year. He retired from that event early on.
Recent Rally of Portugal winner Ogier is also delighted with this
boost to his season – particularly given that four of the remaining
seven rounds of the World Rally Championship are on asphalt.
"With the end of the season heavily biased towards asphalt, this
rally will allow us to get back up to speed with the Citroen C4 WRC on
this surface," said Ogier. "Taking part in a real rally will allow us to
experience competitive conditions, which will help us be ready for
Bulgaria and the rest of the season in Germany, France and Spain."
Alongside the Citroen Junior Team drivers, local driver Felice Re –
the current leader of the Italian asphalt trophy – will also take part
in Rally della Lanterna driving a Citroen C4 WRC.
FUCK ISRAEL 