Kimi Räikkönen is a worldwide known iceman in motorsport who even drives as a master in his own ICE1 Racing -team. He started the season in the arctic Sweden in a cool way and got immediately a number 9 from his co-driver Kaj Lindström for his performance.
But the real iceman was however Jari-Matti Latvala who literally froze in Ford's cockpit a couple of times.
Latvala who had over-aggressively setup and whipped his new car was jumping in the snowbanks all the time. Ford almost ran out of front bumpers because they couldn't take this kind of handling. All and all Latvala left behind him 4 bumpers on the roads .
The Ford came again on Sunday morning so air-conditioned that both driver and co-driver Miikka Anttila were shaking from shivering with their hands and feet frozen. The heat batteries melted the frozen men and Latvala found a rhythm for the afternoon so he could get in 3rd like last year.
Malcolm Wilson was shaking his head because Latvala's weekend was one rollercoaster - at times completely spectacular driving, at times nothing but a nightmare. Yet Wilson strongly believes that someday pieces will fall in place and that's when Latvala will be celebrated as a champion.
If Räikkönen and Latvala were the icemen of the weekend then the actual frostman was Mikko Hirvonen who frosted his nerves. Hirvonen's second win in a row from Sweden restored both his own as his team's confidence.
Wilson especially praised his more experienced driver's performance that was almost perfect and came under the hardest pressure on Sunday morning.
The first victory with the new WRC-car is an important milestone for Ford and it's crowned by a triple victory, but the truth is that it's impossible to say at this point if Ford has been able to get ahead of Citroen in the long run also.
Turun Sanomat, Hagfors
HEIKKI KULTA
Courtesy: Nicole
But the real iceman was however Jari-Matti Latvala who literally froze in Ford's cockpit a couple of times.
Latvala who had over-aggressively setup and whipped his new car was jumping in the snowbanks all the time. Ford almost ran out of front bumpers because they couldn't take this kind of handling. All and all Latvala left behind him 4 bumpers on the roads .
The Ford came again on Sunday morning so air-conditioned that both driver and co-driver Miikka Anttila were shaking from shivering with their hands and feet frozen. The heat batteries melted the frozen men and Latvala found a rhythm for the afternoon so he could get in 3rd like last year.
Malcolm Wilson was shaking his head because Latvala's weekend was one rollercoaster - at times completely spectacular driving, at times nothing but a nightmare. Yet Wilson strongly believes that someday pieces will fall in place and that's when Latvala will be celebrated as a champion.
If Räikkönen and Latvala were the icemen of the weekend then the actual frostman was Mikko Hirvonen who frosted his nerves. Hirvonen's second win in a row from Sweden restored both his own as his team's confidence.
Wilson especially praised his more experienced driver's performance that was almost perfect and came under the hardest pressure on Sunday morning.
The first victory with the new WRC-car is an important milestone for Ford and it's crowned by a triple victory, but the truth is that it's impossible to say at this point if Ford has been able to get ahead of Citroen in the long run also.
Turun Sanomat, Hagfors
HEIKKI KULTA
Courtesy: Nicole
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