Two thirds is behind Kimi Räikkönen's first WRC-season. Kimi has 8 WRC-rallies under his belt and 4 to come.
Kimi has scored WC-points four times and he is 10th in the WC-serie.
Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström finished the rallies every time except for Mexico. Two weeks ago in Germany Räikkönen got his first fastest SS-time on WRC-level.
Summary rally by rally
Experienced co-driver Kaj Lindström who has been beside Tapio Laukkanen and Tommi Mäkinen has worked the best way as a calm advisor for Räikkönen's new rally career.
Let's ask Lindström to shortly summarize this WRC-season with Räikkönen.
Sweden 14.2. (29th)
– It was Kimi's first WRC-rally in a WRC-car. It was tricky for him at the point where he had difficulties listening to the notes. A part of the mistakes simply happened because we weren't exactly on the map.
Mexico 7.3. (retirered)
– That rally went great until we went off the road. Maybe we braked too late but there were many other things that caused it. The car didn't have a rear spoiler for example.
Jordan 3.4. (8th)
– He had a little more patience to drive the right pace and collect experience. It went well.
Turkey 18.4. (5th)
It was a new rally for everybody and a great drive from Kimi. We also saw the difference when the rally is new for eveybody and everybody started from the same ground.
Portugal 30.5. (10th)
– We knew beforehand that Jordan and Portugal will be the most difficult rallies in the beginning of the season - as is Britain's rally too which ends the season. Portugal went well except for the tyre puncture. That's when we were stuck in a ditch for some time.
– All and all it was a mature performance and that's when listening to the note started improving. We are going forward all the time and after Portugal I couldn't say anymore that Kimi wouldn't listen to the notes properly. With that speed you have to start listening to the notes properly.
Bulgaria 11.7. (11th)
– It was a new tarmac rally and there we already had a pace to drive for better positions. We drove beforehand the Lanterna-rally in Italy and that benefitted Kimi without doubt when he got a nice amount of more self-confidence.
Jyväskylä 31.7. (25th)
– It was a reasonable performance although driving too fast to one point cost WC-points. It was good that we got to drive through all stages. If Kimi will continue with rally in the future, then it will benefit him that he has finished Jyväskylä's rally with this car and this race pace.
Germany 22.7. (7th)
– The dude drove well and had good days again even though he made a mistake on Sunday morning which cost the 6th position. In this rally the thing is to cut a lot and there's a lot of dirt on the road. When you drive there for the first time you don't know what the traction is because there is grass and all kinds of trash on the road.
A difficult start to be expected again
Räikkönen and Lindström won't promise anything beforehand from Japan.
– If the old signs are correct, then we can expect a difficult rally. It takes time before we find the right speed for gravel roads, Lindström estimates.
– But the next rally in France is on tarmac and it's new for everybody, I'm sure it will help Kimi again. And at least in rally Catalonia we will get on real good tarmac roads.
HEIKKI KULTA
Kimi has scored WC-points four times and he is 10th in the WC-serie.
Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström finished the rallies every time except for Mexico. Two weeks ago in Germany Räikkönen got his first fastest SS-time on WRC-level.
Summary rally by rally
Experienced co-driver Kaj Lindström who has been beside Tapio Laukkanen and Tommi Mäkinen has worked the best way as a calm advisor for Räikkönen's new rally career.
Let's ask Lindström to shortly summarize this WRC-season with Räikkönen.
Sweden 14.2. (29th)
– It was Kimi's first WRC-rally in a WRC-car. It was tricky for him at the point where he had difficulties listening to the notes. A part of the mistakes simply happened because we weren't exactly on the map.
Mexico 7.3. (retirered)
– That rally went great until we went off the road. Maybe we braked too late but there were many other things that caused it. The car didn't have a rear spoiler for example.
Jordan 3.4. (8th)
– He had a little more patience to drive the right pace and collect experience. It went well.
Turkey 18.4. (5th)
It was a new rally for everybody and a great drive from Kimi. We also saw the difference when the rally is new for eveybody and everybody started from the same ground.
Portugal 30.5. (10th)
– We knew beforehand that Jordan and Portugal will be the most difficult rallies in the beginning of the season - as is Britain's rally too which ends the season. Portugal went well except for the tyre puncture. That's when we were stuck in a ditch for some time.
– All and all it was a mature performance and that's when listening to the note started improving. We are going forward all the time and after Portugal I couldn't say anymore that Kimi wouldn't listen to the notes properly. With that speed you have to start listening to the notes properly.
Bulgaria 11.7. (11th)
– It was a new tarmac rally and there we already had a pace to drive for better positions. We drove beforehand the Lanterna-rally in Italy and that benefitted Kimi without doubt when he got a nice amount of more self-confidence.
Jyväskylä 31.7. (25th)
– It was a reasonable performance although driving too fast to one point cost WC-points. It was good that we got to drive through all stages. If Kimi will continue with rally in the future, then it will benefit him that he has finished Jyväskylä's rally with this car and this race pace.
Germany 22.7. (7th)
– The dude drove well and had good days again even though he made a mistake on Sunday morning which cost the 6th position. In this rally the thing is to cut a lot and there's a lot of dirt on the road. When you drive there for the first time you don't know what the traction is because there is grass and all kinds of trash on the road.
A difficult start to be expected again
Räikkönen and Lindström won't promise anything beforehand from Japan.
– If the old signs are correct, then we can expect a difficult rally. It takes time before we find the right speed for gravel roads, Lindström estimates.
– But the next rally in France is on tarmac and it's new for everybody, I'm sure it will help Kimi again. And at least in rally Catalonia we will get on real good tarmac roads.
HEIKKI KULTA
Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Nicole
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