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With the new World Rally Car regulations coming in for next year, the Citroën C4 WRC will end its career on the Rally Great Britain, the final round of the 2010 FIA World Rally Championship
Dani Sordo/Diego Vallejo and Kimi Räikkönen/Kaj Lindström will represent the Citroën Junior Team, with the aim of sealing third place in the manufacturers’ championship.
Rally Great Britain is the 13th round of the year and one of the iconic events of the World Rally Championship.
It traditionally rounds off the season, although this year both the drivers’ and the manufacturers’ titles have already been decided. But the Citroën Junior Team is still aiming to secure third place in the manufacturers’ title race (which has already been won by the Citroën Total World Rally Team*) while both Dani Sordo and Kimi Räikkönen have the chance to improve their final position in the drivers’ rankings.
Dani Sordo heads into the final rally of the year lying fifth in the championship, having taken five podiums from the last seven events, and the Spaniard is hoping for a strong finish to the season. “This is a particularly difficult rally, but I’ve manage to set some good times there in the past,” he pointed out. “This year, I want to be right in the fight for victory.”
Sordo has ended up with two podiums from his last two participations in the Rally Great Britain. “The weather conditions will play a big part,” he added. “If the roads stay dry, this is going to be an extremely fast rally. If it rains though, the stages will rapidly turn into mud and it will become the most slippery event of the year. We need to get off to a good start, as I’m sure that the pace will be quick from the very beginning. Everyone wants to win the last rally of the year.”
Having scored 21 points, Kimi Räikkönen is currently 10th in the World Championship following the 10 rallies that he has taken part in. The Finn will be back on gravel in Wales: a surface on which he scored points in Jordan, Turkey and Portugal.
"We knew that our first learning year would be a bit like this,” pointed out Kimi. “Like any driver starting off in a completely new discipline that is as specialised as rallying, I’ve had my ups and downs. I imagine that Wales will be no different. We’re going to work hard during the recce. We need to make sure that we set off at a decent pace and then gradually reduce the gap to the frontrunners as the rally goes on. Our rivals will have more experience than us on these roads, although Kaj knows some of the stages. If that means that we can keep making the pace notes in the same way as before, it’s definitely a small bonus.”
The rally route has changed slightly compared to last year. A new superspecial stage (Cardiff Bay) will kick off the action on Thursday night. The first day is a repeat of 2009. But the second day returns to some older stages such as Radnor Forest, which was last used in 1999. On the final day, the Resolfen and Margam Park stages are also slightly modified.Source: Red Bull Rallye
The Citroën Junior Team starts round 12 of the season with two objectives: sealing third place in the World Rally Championship for manufacturers and allowing Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia to defend their second place in the drivers’ standings. In the team’s second Citroën C4 WRC Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström will also be aiming to make their mark on Catalan asphalt
Mixed-surface events are gradually coming back to the FIA World Rally Championship. After one day of the 2009 Cyprus Rally that was held on asphalt and a Rally of Turkey this year that mixed some asphalt sections on an all-gravel route, the Spanish round of the World Championship also brings a new dimension to the end of the year.
On Friday, the crews will face a stage that is 100% gravel (SS2/5 La Ribera d’Ebre) and two mixed surface stages. The first stage of the loop, Terra Alta (35.94 km) is 73% gravel. The final stage, Les Garrigues (17.28 km) is split equally between sealed and loose surfaces.
The two Citroën C4 WRCs will be in gravel configuration on the first day, but will be put into full asphalt specification for Saturday and Sunday during a long service halt (1h15m) on Friday evening.
Citroën Junior Team manager Benoit Nogier commented: “There’s going to be a lot of work to convert our Citroën C4 WRCs from gravel to asphalt specification. We’ve prepared for this service halt especially so that we can be both quick and efficient. The team will be embarking on two 75-minute sessions, which in theory gives us enough time to do everything we need to do…as long as all goes according to plan.”
The two Citroën Junior Team crews each spent a day testing in the south of France in order to prepare for the penultimate round of the season. Sébastien Ogier reported : “The roads were damp. It wasn’t ideal for us to work on the set-up but it was really important to get the kilometres in for both myself and Kimi, who was asking me a lot of questions so that we could compare our impressions.”
“We’ll start second on the road for day one so we’ll certainly suffer a bit with road-sweeping,” continued Sébastien. “We’ll just need to stay in touch and not lose too much time compared to the drivers who are starting behind us. This first mixed day could well play an absolutely crucial role in the final classification. My objective is to finish runner-up in the World Championship and so I need a good result in Spain.”
“It’s another step into the unknown,” added Kimi. “I don’t really know if our start position will be a help or a disadvantage. On the gravel, we will maybe have a clean line to help us but the asphalt sections might be very dirty. It will be vital for us to come out of the first day without making any mistakes so that we are in a good position for the rest of the rally.”
Source: RedBullRallyeCourtesy: momo
Dani Sordo and Diego Vallejo enjoyed an excellent second day over the Hokkaido stages in Japan. Thanks to two fastest stage times, the Citroën Junior Team’s Spanish crew got closer to the lead.They will start the final sprint tomorrow just 15 seconds from the leader.
Increasing their pace from the first day, Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström gained two places to climb to eighth overall.
Dani Sordo and Kimi Räikkönen checked out of parc fermé this morning occupying fifth and 10th places respectively. On the first stage of the day, Dani Sordo showed himself to be instantly comfortable with a second-fastest time.
He continued his progress by setting third-fastest time on the 33.76-kilometre
Kamuycep 1 stage (SS12) and then he went fastest of all on Kina 1 (SS13). In just one loop of stages, Dani had gained 22.3 seconds to close to within less than 15 seconds of the leader.
“The car feels very competitive this morning,” commented Dani. “The engineers have done a really good job to make our Citroën C4 WRC suit the conditions. We’re in the thick of the frontrunners, and it’s great fun to be fighting at the top of the timesheets!”
Kimi Räikkönen benefited from Matthew Wilson’s retirement in the morning to make up a place in the overall classification. Then the Finn grew in confidence to overhaul Federico Villagra. By the end of SS12, he was up to eighth. “I’ve had a good feeling with the car since yesterday’s lunchtime service, so we’re not making any more adjustments to the set-up,” said Kimi. “Now our aim is to keep on going like this. We have to keep trying to improve our times all the way to the end.”
In the afternoon, Dani Sordo was able to stay with the pace of the leaders. The Spaniard had planned to change the set-up of his car in order to optimise its performance on stages that now featured deep ruts after the first passage in the morning. With the help of his engineers, Sordo managed to find settings that allowed him to post another fastest stage time on the 33-kilometre Kamuycep 2 test. He added a third fastest time to his collection on Kina 2.
Heading into the final day, Dani Sordo now occupies a promising fourth place, just 15 seconds off the rally leader. “I think I lost a bit too much time on the first stage this afternoon,” said Dani. “As for everything else, the rest of the day went extremely well. We made a lot of progress and we’re in a good position for tomorrow now. The only thing we can do is push!”
Kimi Räikkönen reinforced his position by putting together a string of eighth-fastest stage times, keeping consistently with 1.8 seconds per kilometre of the leader. “As always, the second run through the stages was easier for me,” he concluded. “Experience counts for a lot on these roads. I’m very pleased with my driving. Now we need to continue like this!”
Team Manager Benoit Nogier concluded:
“Dani is in a very good position. It’s a big pleasure for us to see him so close to the leader, having set a fastest time on the longest stage of the rally. He definitely showed impressive consistency. We’re in the midst of a very exciting rally now, with five or six drivers swapping mere seconds on the stages, including Dani. Now we’re hoping that he drives as quickly as possible again tomorrow. We need to make sure that we have nothing to regret by the afternoon.
"Kimi has driven one of his best days on gravel of the entire season. That’s another source of big satisfaction for us. The target is to continue like this, with the same consistent performance from both our drivers and our C4 WRCs!” Source: RedBullRallye
The Citroën Junior Team will take the start of the Rally Japan – round 10 of the 2010 FIA World Rally Championship – with two C4 WRCs that will be driven by Dani Sordo/Diego Vallejo and Kimi Räikkönen/Kaj Lindström
The Rally Japan gets underway on Thursday 9 September with a superspecial in Sapporo. On Friday 10 September and Saturday 11 September the route will take the crews towards the towns of Tomakomai, Chitose and Eniwa in the south of the island of Hokkaido. The final day, Sunday 12 September, visits the area around Sunagawa, Bibai and Naie, to the northeast of the service park close to Sapporo.
Dani Sordo has taken part in the Rally Japan on three previous occasions, with a best result of second overall in 2007. The Spaniard just missed out on victory by 37.4 seconds on that occasion, having been the best performer of the rally after setting the same number of fastest stage times as Sebastien Loeb.
“I’ve got some great memories of Japan,” said Dani. “It’s a long way away but a very beautiful country. The route is really complex though. As a driver you have to be very precise in order to place the car accurately on very narrow roads and the co-driver has a lot of pace notes to get through, which need to be read out with perfect timing. If all those things don’t come together you end up either losing a stack of time or going off the road. From start to finish, you need to be really exact.”
Dani Sordo is joining the Citroën Junior Team for the last few gravel rounds of the 2010 season, and he is determined to get stuck into the battle with the frontrunners. “I’m going to be giving my all to show that I can drive just as quickly on gravel as I can on asphalt,” added the Spaniard.
Kimi Räikkönen has been used to making the trip to Japan throughout his Formula One career, winning the Japanese Grand Prix in 2005, but the gravel stages on the island of Hokkaido are going to be all new to him. Kimi finished in the points on his last outing, the all-asphalt Rallye Deutschland, and also set the first fastest stage time of his short WRC career to date. He said: “We’ve not been testing since we finished the Rallye Deutschland. When we get to Japan, I’m going to have to get straight back into the rhythm again. I’m expecting it to be a very tricky event for us. From what I’ve heard, the Rally Japan is particularly complex. And it’s sure to be even more complicated for a beginner like me.”
The Finn has been in the points on four occasions from the eight starts he has taken this year, but his objectives remain unchanged. “My targets are exactly the same,” he confirmed. “From the first few stages in Japan we will be able to see the pace we can run at. But once more the main thing will be to be there at the end of the rally.”
After nine of the 13 events that make up this year’s World Rally Championship, Dani Sordo is fifth in the drivers’ standings while Kimi Räikkönen is 10th. In the manufacturers’ rankings, the Citroën Junior Team lies third with 168 points.
- Credit: Citroen Junior Team.
Source: HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS
Following the asphalt of Bulgaria, the FIA World Rally Championship gets back to gravel with the legendary Rally Finland. For the first time this year, Dani Sordo and Marc Marti will drive for the Citroën Junior Team. The team’s second Citroën C4 WRC will be in the hands of Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström, who are competing in front of their home crowd.
For 60 years now, the 1000 Lakes Rally – which then became the Rally Finland – has been a classic fixture for all the crews. The event is often nicknamed the ‘Jyväskylä Grand Prix’ and it has featured seven times in the top 10 fastest rallies ever held in the history of the World Rally Championship. The quickest Rally Finland took place in 2005, with an average speed of 122.86 kph recorded on the event.For the eighth round of the season, Citroën Racing has made some adjustments to its team nominations. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia join the Citroën Total World Rally Team for the first time, while Dani Sordo and Marc Marti form part of the Citroën Junior Team as team mates to Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström. The Spanish crew will also be nominated to score points for the Citroën Junior Team in Japan and Great Britain this year.“The objective of the Citroën Junior Team is to allow young drivers to perform to the best of their abilities at the highest level,” pointed out Team Manager Benoit Nogier. “We have seen this goal being achieved with Sébastien Ogier and we are very happy for him. His results reflect the hard work that the entire team has put in since the start of the season. We hope to be at the same level with Dani, so that he too can show what he is capable of.”Dani Sordo, aged 27, is currently sixth in the World Championship standings and has finished on the podium twice this year, thanks to third place in Portugal and second in Bulgaria. The Spaniard looks upon his new association with the Citroën Junior Team as a fresh opportunity. “I’ll be feeling less pressure,” he said. “By switching teams, I won’t always have to drive with the fundamental need to score manufacturer points for Citroën at the back of my mind. I’m going to concentrate on just doing my own rally and delivering the best performance possible.”For the first time in his short World Rally Championship career, Kimi Räikkönen will be starting an event that he has already contested last year. In 2009, the 2007 Formula One World Champion showed some highly impressive pace before unfortunately going off the road.“We were able to get back up to speed on gravel thanks to a good pre-Finland test,” said Kimi. “Those testing kilometres are absolutely vital on a rally like this one. The experience from last year is certainly going to help, but there is such a performance gap between a Super 2000 machine and a World Rally Car that it’s almost like driving a different rally. I’m really looking forward to getting started. When I was in Formula One, I never got the chance to race in front of my home crowd. I know that there are going to be loads of fans out in service and by the side of the stages. For me, this is a real highlight of the season!”Source: RallyBuzzCourtesy: Julia
Turun Sanomat 18.4 2010 
Kimi Räikkönen has taken ten WC-points when winning a F1-grand prix. From Turkey Rally Kimi also took ten WC-points when bringing his Citroen C4 WRC-car 5th to the finish.A indisputable progress and flawless performance raised these ten points to the level of a winning-atmosphere.Citroen Junior Team's boss Benoit Nogier thanked Räikkönen's performance and speed of progress.- Kimi is going forward with speed. Now he has succeeded to run away from those drivers with whom he still faught at the beginning of this race. This is very encouraging progress from Kimi as a rally-driver, Nogier praises.Räikkönen's good weekend was fulfilled when the flight back home was organised on Sunday-evening on a private jet from Istanbul to Nizza, from where he drives back home to Switzerland.Speed of progress in orderCo-driver Kaj Lindtröm was once again pleased when the star-student is improving race by race at least according to the most demanding exceptations.- Of course this kind of result is good when Kimi doesn't have much of experience in rally. It wasn't flawless, but almost. On a few stages the engine stalled at the same intersection , but that was it.The Turkey Rally, which was taken to a new route, gave Räikkönen and Lindström also a good situational review.- At this point of Kimi's career-development one don't have to wonder anymore what is the difference to the top when the rally-route is unfamiliar to everyone. I didn't yet calculate the different stages but it probably lies around 1 second, Lindström said.A part of the routes was driven on tarmac, which was the third element where Räikkönen is driving for the first time on a WRC-car.- I was probably too careful on tarmac until I realized how much grip there were. I'm pretty satisfied with my pace, Räikkönen said.According to Lindström experience can't be called tarmac-driving.- We drove on gravel settings and gravel tires. It is a totally different thing when we drive the first actual tarmac-rally in July in Bulgary, he reminded.Naturally Räikkönen's end result was maximized by the set-backs experienced by the two drivers who belong to the top 6, Dani Sordo and Jari-Matti Latvala.- Of course others' unfortune helped but it belongs to the spirit of motorsport, Räikkönen reminded.Braking on the last stageSunday's ending stage was according to Räikkönen the most difficult of the weekend. There Lindström had to brake [slow] the driver, so they stayed on the road.- The last stage was more than slippery and very difficult. It had to be taken carefully so that the race wouldn't get a bad ending, Räikkönen explained.There is a one week pause ahead. Räikkönen won't participate in New Zealand WRC-rally and will drive next in Portugal at the end of May.Source: Turun SanomatCourtesy: Leijona
Dani Sordo/Diego Vallejo and Kimi Räikkönen/Kaj Lindström will represent the Citroën Junior Team, with the aim of sealing third place in the manufacturers’ championship.
