On the second try in Rally Finland Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström got to the finish line, as was the goal. But them main aim of a flawless performance, which would also have been a birthday present for the now 41-year-old co-driver, was not achieved.After Friday Räikkönen charged himself for a tough battle against Juha Kankkunen but already on the first special stage of the morning, Kolonkulma, the former F1 star got into trouble. The Citroen slid into a deep ditch and couldn't get out. The front bumper was left on the side of the road and the tyres on the driver's side peeled off their rims.
-We just came too fast to a slow corner turning to the right. The car fell into a ditch and wouldn't come up on it's own. We tried to get up by accelerating and while doing that the front broke on the side of the ditch. We got help from the spectators and eventually we were back on the road, Lindström explained.
-We only had one spare tyre and we had to wonder how to get one tyre back on it's rim so that the air would stay in. Then we just drove peacefully, Räikkönen told.
In the final results Räikkönen was 25th 23 minutes behind winner Jari-Matti Latvala.
The first note has it's risks
While the Citroen was lying hopelessly torn in the service area, Tommi Mäkinen went to hear what his friends had been up to.
-It's typical that the mistake happened on the special stage for which Kimi made the pace notes first. It just goes to show how extremely difficult it is to make pace notes. That's the biggest problem and challenge when compared to driving F1, said Mäkinen.
Lindström explained what the first stage pace note problem means.
-When the rally goes on and you gain experience you start to check the first note during that day and the next day. You just try to make it more accurate and therefore the risks are highest on the first stage. The same thing happened to Tommi sometimes, the note for the first stage was a bit less accurate than for the others.
-Kimi was concentrated but mistakes just happen. The needed experience only comes this way, Lindström thought.
For Räikkönen driving to the finish line was like putting money on a high-interest savings account.
-It's good that we managed to drive through all the stages. If Kimi continues with rally in the future he will benefit a lot from driving the whole rally in Jyväskylä with this car and on race speed, Lindström reminded.
No bullseye stage
The experienced co-driver estimates that only two stages went badly: Myhinpää on the first time on Friday and then Kolonkulma on Saturday morning.
But what about Räikkönen himself – how many stages went well?
-Probably none of them were such that I'd be really pleased with them. When you're driving you always notice that you could be going a lot faster.
Räikkönen fully enjoyed his home race.
-It's one of the sweetest rallies. It's well organized and the feeling among the spectators is different than in a lot of the other places. Rally is popular in Finland. People sit next to the stages from six in the morning and everybody has flags waving and it shows that people are rally fans here, Räikkönen praised.
Information in a completely different way
Mäkinen denied being Räikkönen's mentor.
-I'm not involved in Kimi's racing. He has the Citroen team with him.
Mäkinen emphasized that Räikkönen doesn't have to learn the actual driving.
-You learn to drive a car by practicing. With Kimi the problem is that when driving on a circuit he was able to memorize every spot by heart. In rally there's information coming in all the time and it's coming through a different route, through the ears when the co-driver is reading the pace notes.
-You have to learn to utilise that and it's from a different world than anything else in the motorsport world, even realizing how much time it takes. It is taking time but Kimi's ability to make the notes is improving all the time, Mäkinen emphasized.
Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Dracaena
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