Kimi experiences the ups and downs of Rally Finland
There are lots of hippies in Finland. But rather than people who hang around talking about flower power and making love not war, a ‘hyppy’ in Finnish means a big jump.
Naturally, there are more ‘hyppys’ on Rally Finland than there are at Woodstock. Just to reinforce this impression, there are quite a few old camper vans out there too. Hippies, of course, like nothing better than getting high. And so do rally drivers. Of course we’re talking about those flat-out crests that characterise Rally Finland, sending the cars soaring for nearly a hundred metres into the air. As David Copperfield said, you’ll believe a man can fly.
With so many big jumps, it is inevitable that Rally Finland contains several ups and downs. Kimi Raikkonen experienced both during the second and final day of his home event.
On the opening stage of the day, the ‘Iceman’ got caught out by a right-hand corner and slid into a ditch. The car was undamaged but it took some time to drive out of the ditch, as for once there wasn’t a huge crowd of spectators around to help. While the crew were trying to regain the road, the front bumper of the C4 WRC became detached from the rest of it. To make matters worse, both front tyres then came off the rim. With only one spare wheel, the crew then struggled to get the other deflated tyre back on the rim and more than 10 minutes were lost in total.
Had it not been for that, then the ‘Iceman’ would have been comfortably in the points on his home event: an excellent achievement for somebody contesting the most specialised and complex rally on the calendar in a World Rally Car for the first time.
“We were a bit unlucky this morning but it’s all part of the learning process,” said Kimi, the winner of the 2007 Formula One title. “During the first day we tried not to take too many risks to be sure of making the finish, then we just got caught out on a slippery corner at the beginning of day two. With only two days in the rally this year there’s not so much chance to make up the time lost, so from then on it was a question of getting to the finish. We were able to make a lot of progress with the pace notes, which was useful, and have more kilometres behind the wheel of the car, which is the most important thing. Of course I’m a bit disappointed as there was no real motivation today but in the end getting to the finish was the main aim. It’s all about the experience.”
Kimi’s fellow Finn and co-driver Kaj Lindstrom added: “The really positive thing is we’ve continued the good work that we left off in Bulgaria. But this is a tough sport. You can have a good rally and survive all the complicated things, but then caught out by a place that is reasonably slow and straightforward, which is what happened to us today. We had been going very carefully during the first day and we thought that it might be possible to push a bit harder on day two. In the end we never really got the chance, as after we went off it was hard to find the same pace. We built up more experience though and above all we hope that everybody enjoyed watching us. There were certainly loads of people out there!”
Citroen Junior Team takes flight in Finland
Kimi Räikkönen was deprived of another top eight finish on the first stage of the day.
“We arrived a bit too quickly into a corner at the start of the stage,” he said. “The car slid towards the outside and became stuck in a ditch. It was unfortunately a place where there were no spectators nearby. Several eventually came running to help get us out. We had to change a wheel in order to complete the stage. The front bumper was broken, but there was no other serious damage. We were then able to continue the rally with no further problems.”
Using all the experience he is gradually accumulating, the Finn was able to reduce the gap that separated him from the frontrunners in the afternoon.
“It was an extremely difficult rally. During our first passage through the stages, we just concentrated on checking our notes so that we could continue to make progress. As soon as the terrain became a bit more familiar, I was able to up my pace slightly. But there’s still a lot for us to learn before we can really start to go quickly on this type of terrain.”
Citroën Junior Team Manager Benoit Nogier concluded: “The Citroën Junior Team C4 WRCs went like clockwork over both days of the Rally Finland,” he said. “Kimi is continuing his learning curve: he did a very good job on the first day but had a setback on the morning of day two. Afterwards he found his pace again and got closer to the frontrunners. It’s very encouraging for the rest of the season. Dani started off really well as he was in the thick of the lead battle between Latvala, Ogier, Loeb and Solberg. He then lost a bit of concentration and conceded a handful of seconds that ruled him out of the fight for victory. But he didn’t make any mistakes and brought the car home safely at the end of his first rally with our team. This was an important event for him and he thoroughly succeeded in it.”
The next rally for the Citroën Junior Team will be on asphalt, when Sébastien Ogier and Kimi Räikkönen take the start of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland from 20-22 August.
Stage Times:
SS19 – Himos 2
SS18 – Leustu 2
SS17 – Surkee 2
SS16 – Himos 1
SS15 – Leustu 1
SS14 – Surkee 1
SS13 – Vaarinmaja
SS12 – Kolonkulma
Still no decision about Raikkonen’s F1 future
Source: Motorsport.com
Kimi Raikkonen has once again refused to shed any light on his plans for 2011.
It is expected that the 2007 world champion intends to stay at least another year in the world rally championship.
But Citroen recently announced that Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier are staying put, without mentioning the future of Finn Raikkonen, who has also been linked with a return to Formula One.
When asked on Thursday ahead of the Finnish rally if there is any news about his plans, the 30-year-old answered: "No, not yet. We have some decisions to make and I haven’t done that yet.
"I can honestly say that I do not know," he added in a separate interview.
FIA president Jean Todt told Turun Sanomat newspaper that he respects Raikkonen’s decision last year to move to rallying.
"When he wanted a new challenge, it was very courageous to pick rally. But F1 is a constant pressure so I can understand why Kimi wanted to do something else," said the Frenchman.
"What I can say is that if the reigning champion Jenson Button, or whoever wins this year’s title should go to rallying, he would not be at the same level of Kimi in their first season," added Todt.
Both Raikkonen and Todt refused to comment on the Ferrari team orders scandal.
"I’m not in Formula One, so I don’t care what’s happening there," said the Finn.
And Todt added: "We will deal with it in due course, but I don’t want to talk about F1 now."
FUCK ISRAEL 