Former Grand Prix champion Kimi Raikkonen believes that the forthcoming Rally de Portugal will be a much tougher test than 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.”
Source: MaxRally
Courtesy: MomoD
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