Lindström: Räikkönen still a novice in WRC rallies

Kaj Lindström, who has been Kimi Räikkönen's co-driver in this years WRC rallies, believes that Räikkönen has the potential to develop into a rally star in the future. Lindström reminds that Räikkönen's rally experience is still almost nonexistent even though he's landed a seat at Citroen in the WRC.

-With Kimi you have to remember that he's still a novice as a rally driver. The coming Jyväskylä is Kimi's 13th race in the WRC. Usually drivers have experience of 50-100 rallies before moving to WRC cars, Lindström reminds.

According to Lindström Räikkönen's rally experince is equivalent to a ”B-junior level rally driver” in Finland. In Finland the system works so that a driver gathers experience from dozens of rallies before moving to races of the general series.

-For Kimi everything has come at once. When taking Kimi's experience into consideration I'm satisfied with his his performance and the way the season has gone until now, says Lindström.

According to Lindström many think that an F1 champion is ready to succeed also in rally. It's not at all that simple but in the future Räikkönen may develop into a rally world champion.

-Kimi is in his thirties and a very talented rally driver. Everything is possible if he decides to continue racing in rally. We can talk about winning rallies or the championship after three or four years at the earliest, Lindström thinks.

Source: YLE Sports
Courtesy: luieluv and Dracaena