In the summer of 2009, Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 Formula 1 World Champion, fell in love with rallying, got out of his contract for 2010 with Ferrari and joined the WRC instead.As we know, for a Fin, rally-racing is the real crown of motor sport; a rally world champion is a true hero in Finland. Ergo, a WRC title would be worth more to Kimi than his Formula 1 title.
"In terms of sportsmanship, rally-racing is definitely the greatest challenge as far as I’m concerned,” said Kimi at the start of the new season. He added: "I am learning all over but I want to know how good I am. I am getting familiar with a new car, with rallying, working with my co-driver – everything.” He certainly has his elder brother Rami for mental support, who has been drifting through the Nordic rally forests for years.
The cool Kimi Räikkönen – "Iceman” as his Formula 1 team principal Ron Dennis nicknamed him in 2004 – gave his WRC debut in August 2009 at the Rally Finland in a close-to-production Fiat Grande Punto S2000 (grp. N). Through the good offices of his sponsor Red Bull, he landed a driver’s seat with the Citroën Junior World Rally Team for 2010.
With his co-driver Kaj Lindström, Räikkönen has four WRC rallyes under his belt and scored 14 points in his Citroën C4 WRC. In June, at the Lanterna rally in Italy he passed his asphalt test in view of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland (19 to 22 August 2010). With the Rally Bulgaria (7 to 11 July 2010) and the German WRC round looming, his team principal Benoit Nogier has scheduled another test on gravel and two days of testing for the ADAC Rallye Deutschland: "At the Lanterna rally, Kimi came in as a surprise second in the overall standings. This is powerful motivation for the German rally.”
Before switching over from Formula 1, Räikkönen started in eight German Grand Prix but he does not know the settings of the German rally around Trier at all. Since there are plenty of points of interest to check out, Kimi was happy to look up Trier in the ADAC travel guide. He comments on his level of knowledge: "Right now, I’m not even sure what to expect of the Rallye Deuschland itself. My teammates tell me that it is an extremely many-sided rally on varying types of tarmac. But that’s exactly the sort of challenge I like in rallying. Of course, I also enjoy seeing new places, new regions, and meeting new people. I’m sure the Rallye Deutschland will be a really good experience.”
Source: rallye-deutschland.de
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