Lindström hopes that Räikkönen would still drive rally sometime

Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström drove all and all 22 WRC-rallies and six other rallies. Their best position in WRC was 5th in Turkey 2010. In France's national serie Vosgien in 2010, the duo achieved their only victory by making the fastest time on every stage.

.– Kimi would be an undisputable talent as a rally driver too. He already started to get some routine but only by driving WRC-rallies 2-3 years more, would we have wiped that last second off from the lead's time, Lindström calculated.

Then were you surprised when the driver went back to the F1-tracks?

– It didn't come as a surprise that they wanted Kimi back just as it didn't come as a surprise that he still had the passion to go back, Lindström says.

Then will we still see Räikkönen driving rally someday?

– I hope that Kimi would someday drive rally as a hobby. However driving on the track is more Kimi's own environment, his real thing, but I have to say that we did well in rally too even with a this short experience.

– Kimi has a very positive feeling towards rally, but driving man to man is more natural to him and as a bonus he gets the fun that overtaking offers. Work comes first and F1 is his work, whereas rally is more like a hobby to him.

Difficult to find the right pace

Räikkönen wasn't lacking speed in rally but his difficulty was to find a good rhythm right from the beginning of the race.

– When driving on a track you see what your pace is all the time because you can compare it to others' pace. In rally you just have to rely on your pace and on yourself to drive fast enough. You can't make any straight comparison. If you go too fast you are in danger of driving off and if you are too careful, then the clock doesn't like it at all. Finding the real pace and rhythm comes only with the routine after driving enough. Kimi already got a pretty good hunch about this plot.

How does Räikkönen expect that he will manage with Lotus next year?

– Because you can't know about the car beforehand I can only hope that Kimi finds a good feeling from the car. If he can't drive for leading positions with the car then he just have to be satisfied with the level he can achieve with it.

Berger is courted into becoming a Lotus-consult

In paddock rumours they are anticipating that the main sponsor Lotus Cars would cash in this season's Renault-team from Genii Capital. They are rumouring that Eric Boullier is going to leave.

Italian Gazzetta dello Sport -magazine wrote that they are courting Gerhard Berger as a consult to Lotus. The experienced Dave Ryan was already with the team in Brazil.

The team's current owner Gerard Lopez assured when announcing Räikkönen's contract that getting Kimi was only the first step of many progress steps they will take in order to create a new chain of success.

Turun Sanomat

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Freak crash puts Kimi out

Kimi Räikkönen's co-driver Kaj Lindström has described the moment when they retired from Rallye de France Alsace following a bizarre incident on the road section heading to the third stage of the event

The Finns were in ninth overall after two stages in their ICE 1 Racing Citroen DS3 WRC when disaster struck on the liaison section prior to the 36-kilometre Pays d’Ormont test south west of the service park in Strasbourg this morning.

Lindström told Wrc.com: “As usual we parked 2.5 kilometres before the stage start to put on our helmets and get strapped in before warming our tyres on the way to the control. On this occasion Henning [Solberg] went in front of us - even though he was behind us in the start order. He was snaking down the road to put some heat in the tyres and the brakes, and we were doing the same behind. But at some point we had to overtake so soon we caught up. Henning pulled into his lane, and we went to pass but suddenly he braked hard and we drove into the back of his car - his left-hand rear corner with our right-hand front. The impact broke one of our front suspension uprights. But this is what happens sometimes - no one is to blame. I explained this to Henning afterwards.

Speaking to World Rally Radio, Solberg said: “He hit me on the left side, I saw his car in the air and then he disappeared into a ditch. He said it was not my fault and just to drive on.”

It’s currently not clear if Räikkönen, the 2007 Formula One world champion, and Lindstrom will be able to restart on day two. “We are at the hotel now while the team look at the car. I can’t say whether we will be able to restart tomorrow,” said Lindstrom.

Source: WRC

Kimi's Column: Refreshed to France

It was a six weeks’ break for me. It was a really refreshing time. Obviously six weeks without driving gives you such a desire to come back to the car and really go for it again.

I have such a relaxed and nice feeling to have this rally. Let’s hope this feeling helps us to a good result, too.

Last week we tested the car with Kaj Lindström in France. It was one day without any problems. Everything went well and it was just great to go fast with WRC car on those roads.

Obviously, I’ve got the proper touch to the car on tarmac. Most of all I enjoyed the nice feeling I’ve got in the car. More or less we are ready for the tricky challenge this weekend offers.

Well, I had a break, but it didn’t mean just chilling out. I’ve done consistent physical training in the meanwhile and I really feel good.

Last year back in Rallye de France it was wet and dirty most of the time. It didn’t feel that much like a tarmac challenge. It was more like a question to survive and keep the car safely on those roads. Cutting the corners was happening all over the place. Doing that made the roads very, very slippery.

We have managed to improve our performances in every rally this season compared to our debut year. Obviously, that is the target in Rallye de France, too. While it goes according to our plan, we should get a fistful of some nice points again.

Now we’ve done the pace notes. It’s time start. The target is the same like always: to get quickly to the good rhytm and then try to get every stage right without any major mistakes. By clinching it, you finish this rally with a good result as well, I presume.

The car is now at its best. This is now the start for the last period of this season. There are three rallies left to get the job done well.

So far the season has been ok. The rally is difficult, but every time you gain some more experience. for sure, we have not been going backwards!

Source: KIMIRAIKKONEN.COM
Courtesy: _TaniaS_

Räikkönen was driving experience over really well

Kimi Räikkönen's co-driver Kaj Lindstrom says residues driving WRC Rally Finland on Saturday morning leg.

Raikkonen was the morning's fast lap in exactly the same pace as the 2003 world champion Petter Solberg identical Citroen car.

- Kimi drove really well. Yes, he knows how to drive. It just always seems to forget the representatives of the media that a career is only 24 rallies. In relation to it, he drove really well, Lindstrom praised MTV3.

Is today's rate reflects the fact that Raikkonen can develop a winning rally driver?

- The last seconds per kilometer at the top is a miniature steps. There does not go by leaps and bounds, Lindstrom acknowledges the realities.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Mar

Why happy Kimi continues to improve

While the thrilling finish to last week's Jordan Rally wrote headlines around the world, Kimi Räikkönen was delivering another solid performance at the wheel of his Ice 1 Racing Citroen DS3 WRC

For the third event in succession, Räikkönen scored championship points. While he might yet be some way from threatening the podium it was a notable achievement from a driver who could barely muster an error-free run during his debut season in 2010.

Kaj Lindström, who has co-driven Räikkönen since the ex-Formula One world champion took his first steps in rallying back in 2009, said increased experience - and confidence - is playing a huge part in the Ice Man’s upturn in form, rather than a change to his approach behind the wheel.

“It’s much better than last year because he’s finding the right way by finishing rallies without making mistakes,” said Lindstrom. “There’s no difference to what he’s doing. Rallying was a brand new experience for him when he started and there’s no short cut in this sport. It takes time to learn and after one year it’s getting easier for him.”

Lindström explained that Räikkönen is finally able to trust his pace notes, which was one of his main weaknesses last season.

“There won’t be any miracles from him just yet but his self-confidence is building because we’ve seen a big improvement in his pace notes,” said Lindstrom. “He is relying on them more and more and when that happens there are no big surprises for him on the stages.”

Asked whether Räikkönen was happy within the Citroën Racing empire, Lindström said: “The team took us in from the start and the second year is always easier in any relationship. You have to remember he had the option to go where he wanted. It’s his choice and he chose to stay with Citroën, which says it all. He’s happy and he’s definitely enjoying the WRC. He doesn’t have to drive but he does because he wants to be here. He’s very motivated.”

Source: WRC

Tyre puncture bugged Kimi

Portugal is the first rally on gravel for Kimi Räikkönen's new Citroen. The start was sticky and just as Räikkönen started to find a better rhythm the tyre emptied all of a sudden without hitting anything.

– The air just disappeared and suddenly we noticed that there went our tyre. We had 11 km of the stage left. We drove the rest of the stage with the wheel and lost 1,40 minutes. If you have over 15 km to the finish of the stage, then it's worthwhile to stop and change the tyre, Lindström told.

– It was a bad thing when the tyre went. I improved my driving in the afternoon but during service break we took the wrong direction with setups. I had no grip, Räikkönen said.

– Of course it was seen during the first stage that it was a race on gravel. It was sticky but we got a hang of it around the final phase of the stage, Lindström said.

The team's mecanics had some overtime work when everything is changed so that they get the setups to hit better.

– It felt surprisingly hard although it shouldn't have felt that way. We will change the whole suspension just in case, if there is some problem with it, Lindström said.

Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Nicole

The indicators of Räikkönen's development

Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström left out Mexico. The new ICE1Racing team will now take part in its second rally in the World Rally Championship.

Many drivers in the top ten had problems in Mexico. If Räikkönen had been able to produce the same faultless performance as in the opening round of the World Rally Championship in Sweden, the final result would have surely been good.

- Admittedly, there could have been a good result there. Although there is a bit of a handicap because Portugal is our first gravel rally, while the others have had experience with the new cars in Mexico, his co-driver Lindström says.

Räikkönen made his Portugal debut a year ago and finished tenth. Räikkönen was much more competitive on his second attempt in Sweden. Does Lindström believe that this will also be the case in Portugal?

- I do not want to think too far in advance, but it is clear that progress has been made, and I do not think that in Kimi's case it will go backward in this rally. We drove one test day last week in France, we got a better setup and the driver goes to the car with a good feeling when it feels better in your hands, Lindström summarized.

Source: TS.fi
Courtesy: sleenster

Iltasanomat (paper edition): No need for a shovel

by Janne Aittoniemi

Kimi will not drive in Mexico.

- Our next rally is in Portugal. I believe that we get to test more than a day this time. It is cleared up in the team's meeting this evening, Kaj Lindström tells.

According to Kaitsu Kimi deserves a 10 for Rally Sweden.

- A great achievment from Kimi. We didn't need the shovel even once this year, Kaj said.

- There are some places that still remain as places with a less accurate note. Then when a situation comes up Kimi starts to be more careful, Kaitsu said.

When they are driving stages that will be taken two times Räikkönen doesn't yet have the courage to drive flat-out the first time but the other time goes much better.

- It's still hard to say how high Kimi will get in rally. However it's a great thing that we have made progress in all departments. The difference to the lead has grown significantly smaller, Lindström said.

Courtey: Nicole

"One of Räikkönen's best performances"

According to Kimi Räikkönen’s experienced co-driver Kaj Lindström the ex-F1-star has taken steps forward as a rally driver

The second Sweden Rally in Räikkönen’s career brought him the 8th position and a bunch of good special stage times.

- It's a great thing that we have improved, and we have to improve from here on, but it was one of the best performances from Kimi, Lindström evaluates.

According to Lindström Räikkönen still has studying to do in the precision of making the notes. It can be seen in the driving when the special stages are driven for the first time.

- When the note is being done, there are some spots, which are not that detailed and when a spot like that occurs in the first run you start to look out for other "spots" that could be in the note, Lindström said.

- On the second run when the notes are more reliable, the driving comes already wicked well.

Räikkönen reached one fourth position and a bunch of position within top 6.

- We didn't have any bigger problems. Always you could go faster though, Räikkönen said.

- Always something stays to bug you. Now we spinned once, there was one puncture and the beginning of the race was somewhat difficult, but it improved towards the end. It's nice that I have learned something.

Räikkönen's season continues at the end of March in Portugal WRC-rally.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Leijona

Räikkönen in better rhythm

The cold and clear weather helped Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström to a better speed on Saturday morning in Rally Sweden. Kimi was 8th on all four stages. He did best in Sågen where Kimi was 22,2 seconds from the top time when he had the difference of 30,4 seconds in the stage before that.

Räikkönen is now holding on to two points being 9th.

– The weather is now normal compared to Friday's snowstorm and it was pretty good driving, Kaj evaluated.

– We are on the ride with only one spare tyre so the balance of the car is a bit different. We already got it pretty good.

How big is the difference to last year when Kimi debuted on these roads?

– Because Kimi has drove here before, of course he remembers the places. First he didn't remember the last stage but once we took off he remembered it immeadiately.

The change of weather has of course changed the surface of the road too.

– It's not a that big change. The surface doesn't eat the tyres as much or wear them out, Lindström said.

Räikkönen has to shake himself awake because the rally begins so early.

– It always goes late in the evening here so we don't have much time to sleep. But it went okay. There isn't as much snow as it was on Friday. It's much more cooler to drive. The roads are great, Räikkönen said.

Turun Sanomat, Hagfors

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Räikkönen considers career after father's death

Kimi Räikkönen has ceased talks about his plans for the 2011 season following the death of his father Matti.

The major Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reports that the grief-stricken 31-year-old, who was reportedly considering switching teams for the next world rally championship, may even call time on his racing career.

Räikkönen was reportedly very close with his father, a road builder, who supported his sons' careers from an early age and died suddenly at the age of 56 two days before Christmas.

"Since the death of Matti Räikkönen, all the plans (of Kimi Räikkönen) are on ice," confirmed the Finn's rally co-driver Kaj Lindström.

He added: "Let's hope he stays in rallying. The chances of success are much better in the second year than the first, because you don't have to be learning all sorts of things all of the time."

Source: Motorsport

Iltalehti paper edition: MOURNING TIME

According to Kaj Lindström Kimi Räikkönen's rally career is now put on ice

Soon the dead line for the entry list in WRC meets the end. Yet nobody knows anything about Kimi Räikkönen's contract situation.

The worst - if this adjective fits in - would be that there wouldn't be anything happening for a while when it comes to Räikkönen's sporting career. Matti-dad's death during christmas stopped all negotiations.

- Everything is now put on ice until he gets his things in order, Kaj Lindström says.

In practice Räikkönen's mourning time will last at least until the funeral is over. Riku Kuvaja emphasises that they want to keep everything concerning the mourning event strictly as the family's private matter.

- We will totally sanctify this time. We will tell news when it's time, Kuvaja told Iltalehti yesterday.

Lindström is such an experienced fox that he doesn't lose his nerves even if he doesn't know for sure about his own plans next season. Surely there is something going on but according to the co-driver even the continuance in rally isn't completely sure.

- Everything is possible in this sport. If you would ask me it would have been better if we would have had a signed contract already in September.

Lately Räikkönen has also been connected to managering a motocross-team. It's completely uncertain if that could be combined with a full rally season or not.

- Let's just hope that he will end up in rally. His chances for success the second year are much better than the first year since he doesn't have to learn everything again, Kaj Lindström said.

Yet rally must now be the least important thing in Räikkönen's mind. The WRC-serie starts in Sweden in February. Mini/Prodrive-, Monster- and Citroen's junior team hasn't yet confirmed their other driver's name.

Janne Palomäki


Condolences

Making these stories is not the pleasant side in this job. The death of a close person is an extremely painful matter for each and everyone and asking about them isn't professionally rewarding.

I was 27-years old when my father died only a few weeks after he turned 55 years.

Matti Räikkönen was 56 when he passed away.

I don't claim that I would know how Kimi Räikkönen feels at the moment. I don't claim that I can estimate how long it takes for him before he is ready to return to the negotiation-table. I don't think anyone can say that he should do anything else than what he is doing right now.

Mourn.

Everything else is secondary. I'm sure Kimi gave a lot of joy and happiness to his father. Maybe he can seek some comfort from the fact that their relationship remained close until the end.

We can only take part in Räikkönen-family's mourning.

And give them peace.

Janne Palomäki

Courtesy: Nicole

Lindström tips Kimi to improve

Co-driver Kaj Lindström says Kimi Räikkönen's revelation that his preferred option for 2011 is to remain in the World Rally Championship is great news for the ex-Formula One title-holder's bid to establish himself at the forefront of the WRC

Räikkönen rounded out his maiden world championship campaign on Wales Rally GB last week with an eighth-place finish on the rain-hit event, the fifth time this season that the Finn has scored points in his Citroën Junior Team C4 WRC.

After completing the final stage of the event, Räikkönen told wrc.com that he wants to stay in the WRC. “I have two options [for next year],” said the 31-year-old. “The first option would be to stay in rally and hopefully we can do this.”

Despite his impressive start to his rallying career following his switch from Formula One at the end of 2009, Raikkonen’s future in the sport remains unclear. He has yet to finalise a drive for next year and a return to Grand Prix racing is still a possibility for 2011.

Lindström, who navigated Räikkönen on all 11 WRC events his countryman started this season, said a second term in rallying will trigger an improvement in form for his driver.

“It will still be another learning year getting to the top but if he stays he’ll get more experience and can only improve,” said Lindström. “Apart from what happened in Spain [when Raikkonen crashed in shakedown and failed to start the event], everything has gone more or less like we expected it would go knowing that he is on a junior level on the rally and there are things to learn.

“For me [his result on Rally GB] is a good finish because it was a difficult rally but he made it well with no mistakes.”

Räikkönen, who scored a total of 25 points to finish 10th in the final drivers’ standings, added: “It’s nice to end my first season in the WRC with a points finish,” he said. “This was one of the most difficult rallies that I competed on, mostly because of the grip changing all the time. The roads were really slippery, but it’s always been a question of trying to work out exactly how slippery they are. Like everything else, this has been a completely new experience for me but I am pleased how it went.”

Source: WRC

My day with: Kaj Lindström

“It’s been an interesting second day of Rallye de France but not an easy one. In the end we so nearly managed to get to the end of all the stages, which was great, but we were off on two occasions, which wasn’t. Tomorrow we will start the final day thanks to SupeRally, but it’s obviously not the same. All the motivation goes, so it becomes a lot more like testing than competing.

“Myself and Kimi started the day in seventh, which is not bad at all under the circumstances. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an asphalt rally with conditions like the ones we had yesterday: it was more like a battlefield than an asphalt stage! There was mud everywhere and the grip was somewhere between zero and less than zero.

“That was the same problem we had today as well: it was impossible to build up proper confidence and halfway through the second stage of the day we just went skating off on the mud, on a corner that was probably taken at about 20 kph.

“There have been so many spectators on this rally, but when you need them around they are never there: we were on our own apart from maybe 10 people or so. Eventually we managed to get the car back onto the road, but half an hour was gone and any chance of getting a good result.

“Then we had another problem on the penultimate stage: the car went wide and we got stuck on the outside of a corner, which was obviously quite dangerous. We had to get out of the car in case anybody else hit us, and unfortunately that was our work done for the day.

“With a clean run, I think that we could have been near the top six in the end, which would have been a great result for only Kimi’s third world championship rally on asphalt.

“Generally speaking, I think he’s made a lot of progress over the last few months, particularly when it comes to the pace notes. Finland was an important turning point, and since then things have been getting better and better. We’ve maybe not had the concrete results to show for it, but the potential has been definitely there. Up to the point where we slipped off, which was just a stupid little thing, we had been completely consistent and mistake-free too: in fact we set seventh-fastest time on every single stage yesterday!

“It’s not easy starting a whole new learning campaign like this when you’re a former F1 champion, but Kimi is really working hard and he’s always ready to take new ideas on board.

“I see quite a few things in common between him and Tommi Makinen, whom I used to co-drive for: they’re both determined, they’ve both got a great sense of humour, and they’re both bloody fast…”

Source: MaxRally
Courtesy: Julia

Driving with Kimi – Kaj Lindström; Back to asphalt

After a break of a few weeks work in the rally car continued with a two-day asphalt test. The first test day we drove a week ago on Sunday in Germany and the second one last Friday in France.

It's nice to go do another tarmac rally. Rally Bulgaria already showed us that asphalt is a familiar surface for Kimi. Although, Rally Germany is a peculiar rally in the sense that the character and the grip of the roads is different on each race day. The first day is driven in the middle of the vineyards of the Mosel valley on narrow, bumpy and quite dirty roads. On the second day we go to the area of Nato's military base in Baumholder where the special stages are uneven and in some places very dirty and slippery roads paved with concrete. The rally's longest stage, the 48 km long Panzerplatten SS, will be driven twice on those army base concrete roads. We went there to test last week just because there are no such roads anywhere else in Europe.

The rally ends with style on Sunday with a super special stage (4.37 km) driven in Trier's Porta Nigra. The area is one of UNESCO's world heritage sites. The old buildings there are magnificent.

We got the car into good shape in the tests. Kimi has his own vision of what kind of a car fits his driving style on tarmac and we believe that we have a car like that available during the weekend.

The roads in Rally Germany are so different on each day that we have to make daily changes to the suspension. This rally is a again new experince for Kimi so our goal has not changed: let's drive to the finish line and avoid mistakes.

In Rally Germany we mainly use the PZero one-type tyre designed by Pirelli for asphalt. We also have a limited option of the same tyre with a softer compound in case the weather suddenly gets rainy or cold. In Rally Germany the weather often changes unexpectedly so based on my experience I believe that we'll use both tyre choices in the race.

This rally wasn't driven last year but when compared with 2008 the special stages are almost the same. There's only one new SS on the route and it's driven on Saturday. There's quite a huge amount of SS-kilometers, 407.31 km.

I'll get back to you in a week after we've made our trip to Germany.

Best wishes
Kaitsu

Source: Kolmeks.fi
Courtesy: Dracaena

Lindström is pleased with Kimi's self-critisism

Kimi Räikkönen was very critical at himself after the morning because he didn't find the rhythm at once and the man thought that he was driving badly. In the afternoon at the second attempt Kimi improved right on the first stage 16,1, on the second 13,6 and on the third 18 seconds.

– When there was hay on the tarmac for the first time Kimi didn't immediately know what kind of traction it has. It went better in the afternoon. Self-critisism is a great trait in a man. When you do something and it doesn't go well you shouldn't be satisfied.

– I told Kimi in the morning 'Kimi, just continue the same way and don't start overtrying even though it doesn't feel that the times are starting to drop. It will come in the end, Kaj Lindström said.

– I mean it certainly wasn't any normal tarmac when there was hay on the road. Fortunately it got a little better in the afternoon, Räikkönen said.

HEIKKI KULTA

Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Nicole

Kivimäki wonders why Kimi chose number notes

Turun Sanomat 17.8 2010

They have talked and talked about how difficult it is for a track-driver to learn to fully understand the rally-notes.

The experienced co-driver Ilkka Kivimäki thinks that Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström would have survived this biggest challenge had they chosen the traditional note vocabulary instead of the numeral vocabulary.

– I think Kimi took a too long road when he went to rally with numeral notes. Jari-Matti Latvala lost with that system during his first 5 years when he began with number notes when he was very young - and he still isn't perfect with them. He still makes mistakes, Kivimäki says.

– A driver should get a proper note starting from the beginning so that he would get a more clearer image of the stages and he could also talk about them with the other drivers and his co-driver. Nobody has the energy to listen for very long when someone only talks in numbers.

61-year old Kivimäki is known as Markku Alen's prestigeous co-driver. Their co-work lasted for 20 years and started in 1974 when Alen made a contract with Fiat and needed a Finnish co-driver beside him.

Kivimäki knows how challenging it is to race with number notes.

– For me the number note works so that when someone tells me a number I have to turn it into reasonable language in my head in order to understand what it means. When someone says medium left, full left or bad left I automatically know what note it is. But when the noting-language is for example 3 changing in the end into a tight 2 and continues after that as 3 the brains have to process it and interpret all those words so that I can completely give form to what is ahead.

Kivimäki praises a lot the ability of both Räikkönen-brothers - Rami and Kimi - as drivers.

– The talent that the Räikkönen-boys have is tremendeous - no matter what vehicle you give them to drive.

– I was with Rami driving the zero-car in front of Tommi Mäkinen in Corsica and Rami immediately understood the notes. He spent no time wondering over it. I'm sure it would have gone as quickly with Kimi if he had used the regular note-vocabulary, Kivimäki thinks.

Kivimäki is well aware of how different challenge rally is for a top driver who has been driving tracks and F1 for all his life. He worked as Mika Häkkinen's co-driver when the double F1-champion drove in Tunturi-rally.

– Mika didn't waste any extra energy for controlling the car. When I sat beside Mika I wondered at first why he didn't pull the manual brake when he had a 90 degree corner ahead of him and we had at least 100 km/h of speed at that point.

– For these F1-giants that one second is such a long time that you have time to do almost anything. They aren't afraid to put themself in the game. They get through it if they keep the line. It's a different story if they don't keep the line.

Häkkinen didn't find a new career from rally.

– Mika just didn't have the energy to concentrate on the notes. He had the fire for driving but the genre required too much concentration from him and he didn't want it.

– Mika had time to listen to the notes because the driving itself didn't cause any pain. He just didn't clear up for himself just how much it takes to learn the notes properly.

Kivimäki thinks that of all the Finnish drivers from F1 Jyrki Järvilehto made the most natural transition.

– Jyrki probably had the best hunch of what kind of guy you should be to get into the speed which belongs to rally.

– What is common for all these F1-drivers is that when they have been pushing 300 on the track then suddenly 160 km/h in the forest is nothing. They have no fear. They think that as long as they get to drive themself there's no need to be afraid, Kivimäki says.

HEIKKI KULTA

Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Nicole

Co-driver promises: Kimi can do much better

Kaj Lindström, who reads notes for Kimi Räikkönen in WRC, is convinced of the former F1 driver's talent in the rally car

-We've made progress in every race which is the most important thing for us this year, Lindströn said in a press release of the Citroen junior team.

The next WRC race is driven on Germany's tarmac roads next weekend.

-Our performance in the first asphalt rally in Bulgaria was the most impressive one this season. I know that there's a lot more to come from Kimi, Lindström continued.

Räikkönen himself goes to Germany with a cautious mind and is aiming for a good position.

-This is a new competition for me again. In my first asphalt rally with the Citroen C4 WRC car I immediately found a good feeling. The most important thing for me is to get used to driving a WRC car on this surface. Based on my previous experience I can say that driving on tarmac feels a bit more natural for me but driving a rally car is still a copletely different thing than driving on track, Räikkönen reminds.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Dracaena

In Kimi's ride - Kaj Lindström; Home race went well and not so well

Hello to everyone again. Finland's WRC-rally is behind us and the weekend went very nicely with the exception of Myhinpää 1 ja Kolonkulma special stages. Generally speaking the race went according to expectations. Considering Kimi's experience, he drove pretty good SS-times. I believe that our speed was improved by the previous Bulgary Rally's good speedlevel. In that race Kimi had to listen to the notes for the first time in top speed and it helped him also in Jyväskylä's fast roads. In Jyväskylä Kimi's listening to notes was very good and focused.

But, but. Mistakes happen, that was known already before the season started. As first-timers we drove Myhinpää too carefully and Kimi wasn't happy with his performance. On Saturday's first special stage Kolonkulma we drove into the ditch. It was a pure error of assessment. Kimi lifted his foot from the brake a little too early. There was about 10 km/h too much speed and we ended up in the ditch.

There was bad luck when driving out of the road. The car's left-side tires bounced to the ditch after hitting away from the rims. The car didn't break in the accident at all but when we drove back to the road we had to take more speed and there the front bumper got broken.

We continued to the finish of the special stage with two undamaged tires. We had only one spare tire with us, so it took some time after the stage to get the other tire back on its rim. That asked for a bit of excersice to say the least. But we succeeded, although we got a couple of minutes of time-penalty in the end.

Citroën is a strict car for changes. When the front bumper was missing at the same time the car's driving characteristics weakened substantially. Next two stages was driven to say "greetings" since the car wasn't working.

It was all the time a great feeling to drive in Jyväskylä. Along the routes and in service we got plenty of encouragement and a big thank you for that. We met numerous representatives of our partners in service as well.

I'm looking forward for the next German Rally with confidence and I'm waiting for it eagerly. The race is driven in three weeks in the area of Mosel on tarmac roads. It was good fortune that we were able to continue from the Kolonkulma special stage because from the rest of the rally we got very important noting- and driving experience for the end of the season. Now that we have experienced Jyskälä, I'm expecting a lot from the German Rally.

Let's get back to it in a few weeks for preview of German Rally.

Greetings from

Kaj

Source: Kolmeks.fi
Courtesy: Leijona

Driving with Kimi – Kaj Lindström; Everything ready for the home race

The two-day test in Mid-Finland is behind us and everything is ready for our home race, Rally Finland. The feeling after the tests is good. The car feels good and it even feels like our own, so I can't complain. I can only be satisfied

In the tests we started to modify Citroen's basic gravel set-up to our own liking. We tried different kinds of set-ups for the differential gear locks and suspension. There's not much else to test in a car like this since there's no new parts available anymore.

We think we found good set-ups for Jyväskylä. The balance of the car is not far from what we would want it to be. We still have some options left to try and we'll test them once in a more unfamiliar road meaning Thursday's test super special which is this year driven in Jyväskylä's Muurame in a completely new road section.

Jyväskylä is considered one of the most difficult rallies to drive fast with a WRC car. I don't know how much we'll benefit from participating last year with a S2000 car. It's always an advantage to have driven the same stages with whatever rally car but the WRC car has obviously a lot more power and 30 km/h more maximum speed than the Fiat so I'm sure there's places on the route where the Fiat didn't lift it's tyres from the ground last year but the Citroen certainly will. These spots we have to find when we make the pace notes.

Last year our race was cut short on Saturday so we haven't experienced the roads in the eastern route of this year's Friday. But there's still a lot of familiarity on the route too. And the fact that it's a home race doesn't change our approach to the rally in any way: the goal is still to to drive a solid race, avoid mistakes, set good special stage times and on top of that drive to the finish line.

For a Finnish driver it's always a special thing to race in the home country. During Kimi's career as a driver he hasn't experienced many home races so we're eagerly ecpecting the coming race.

It's also nice to see representatives of affiliates present at the rally. I'm sure there will be a lot of you chearing for us in Mid-Finland and that's a great thing. I know from experience that driving in Jyväskylä feels completely different compared to other places: there's a lot of familiar people watching and the rally is always very well organized and all in all a very nice event. Especially this year when the whole route has been squeezed into two tough days which means that a flawless driving performance demands a lot from the mental side of every driver.

See you during the weekend in Mid-Finland!

Kaitsu

Source: Kolmeks.fi
Courtesy: Dracaena