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Ex-Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen says his return to WRC duty on the Acropolis Rally has gone better than expected
“I imagined that the conditions would be worse than they were, particularly with the road surfaces,” said Raikkonen. “Stage eight for example, seemed really bad on the recce but when we did it on the rally it was OK. There were some tough places, sure, but actually not as many as I thought there would be. I’ve got nothing to compare this rally with, but it reminded me in some places of Turkey and Jordan last year. The stages on Saturday were nice actually: I enjoyed them.”
Both the rough events in Jordan and Turkey resulted in points for Raikkonen last year, with co-driver Kaj Lindstrom confirming that the Finn has quickly adapted to the controlled driving style needed for the Acropolis, despite little pre-event preparation.
“He has a natural feeling for the car and the roads,” said Lindstrom, whose best result in Greece was fifth in 2003 Acropolis alongside Tommi Makinen. “We’ve stayed out of trouble on Saturday, which makes up for a difficult day on Friday. Now we can just concentrate on bringing the car to the finish and scoring some points.”
Räikkönen battled suspension problems and a puncture on the opening day of the world championship qualifier but he enjoyed perfect reliability throughout day two. With little chance of catching the car in front of him or being caught by the car behind him, Raikkonen will instead concentrate on gaining more experience behind the wheel of the DS3 in preparation for the remaining gravel rounds of the year.
Source: WRC
Kimi Acropolis rally preview in Finnish
We had a break from the rally business for a couple of months. When driving the tests in France with Kaitsu it felt like I hadn't been gone at all. The test went well and we got right away a good feeling in the car. It was good preparation for this rally in Greece since we even got the car better.
Greece is a new place to me and the gang says that it's the toughest rally for the car. Therefore the biggest challenge will be to get the equipment to the finish line in one piece.
I mean, this isn't the first rally where it's hot with rocky and dusty roads like here. We had a tough route in Jordan too and there the car survived the beating completely fine. It's completely new that we will now go fast on Saturday-night during darkness.
We have been in three rallies this year. One can be completely satisfied since we have each time finished the rally and scored points. Since the goal has been to learn more each time, we have succeeded in it and developed as much as possible.
It's nice when you see that the notes get better each time.
Since everything went well in the tests it's easy to come back to this car.
We have good feelings to start pulling, although we are taking these routes for the first time. Our goals haven't changed at all. We will do our best so that we avoid big mistakes and can pull the whole race in a good speed all the way to the finish line.
Source: KIMIRAIKKONEN.COM
Courtesy: Nicole
“I imagined that the conditions would be worse than they were, particularly with the road surfaces,” said Raikkonen. “Stage eight for example, seemed really bad on the recce but when we did it on the rally it was OK. There were some tough places, sure, but actually not as many as I thought there would be. I’ve got nothing to compare this rally with, but it reminded me in some places of Turkey and Jordan last year. The stages on Saturday were nice actually: I enjoyed them.”
