AutoSprint: And Kimi gets points again

Fifth overall, so Kimi Raikkonen could celebrate in Turkey his second race finished in the points after Mexico.

The Finnish driver was satisfied at the end, both for the result and for the great experience made during the race.

The former Ferrari driver is going to take a break now: he won't race in New Zeland and we can see him again at the end of May, in Portugal.

Source: AutoSprint
Courtesy:_TaniaS_

Kimi Jordan preview: THE DESERT IS CALLING

in Finnish
Let's see what we have ahead of us now. We are going to a new place again and to a new country where I have never been before. It's the first place where Kaitsu hasn't raced either.

We know already that we are in for a really big new challenge again but we just have to get used to it. It's the name of the game in rally. No matter where we go the place is always different from the place where we rallied before.

It's been like this all season. All these three rallies have differed from each other massively. Compared to them Jordan is like from a different world. There you have to learn everything from scratch once again. We can't do more than try our best - and collect as much experience as fast as we can.

In the final games we cannot at least complain that this would be boring. We knew beforehand that this is what rally driving is. New driving surfaces, roads changing just like that and we have to work at full speed all the time.

I haven't regretted for one moment that I took this challenge. Each kilometer with the car is important to me and the more I drive a real rally with the car the better it feels.

Mexico is in the past. It went like it went. We have been learning rally the hard way. Every time we got some other program. But when we have been able to go forward it has felt good.

The car is strong. That much we know. If we can only stay on the track then the equipment will last.

After last rally we took a break and it did good for my body. After that we had the first tests on gravel and now we are going with positive feelings to drive in Jordan's rally.

There's no trees, no mountains. Only sand and dust - and the breaks are somewhere on the Dead Sea's beach. It's 100% sure that making the notes to this rally will be completely different from what I have done elsewhere. They have to be more in place than anywhere else since there are no real landmarks.

That's what this still is, us trying to get into the right rhythm with this equipment on gravel surface so that we wouldn't have to drive with stiff wrists all the time.

My goal is to finish the rally. If it doesn't fall in place then there is no other goal to achieve.

Let's see how fast the lead is taking it and what our ride in that bunch is.

Source: kimiraikkonen.com
Courtesy: Nicole OF

Corona Rally Mexico - The Guru's review Kimi Räikkönen

Another miss for Raikkonen - but was his car at 100 per cent?

"Kimi Raikkonen?s third WRC rally didn?t go well. Hitting a rock seven kilometres into stage one and bending the steering arm wasn't a good start. Then, on stage two, he dropped more than thirty minutes when his fuel pump stopped working. Things looked up after a couple of clear stages, and he seemed to be getting into it, only for his rally to end in spectacular fashion when he rolled his C4 WRC five times.

Soon after the crash Kimi said his late braking was to blame. His car had run wide and hit a bank - sending him into the series of rolls. Maybe he did brake late, but on watching footage from the stage side camera I noticed that the rear spoiler was missing from the rear of the C4 BEFORE the crash. Would Kimi have got around the corner with the help of some rear downforce? Perhaps. But after Sebastien Ogier's spoiler parted company with his identical C4 WRC in Sweden I imagine Citroen engineers are working on some stronger bolts for Jordan."

Source: WRC

WRC RALLY MEXICO 2010 KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Source: KIMIRAIKKONEN.COM

Kimi Mexican review in Finnish: SIESTA IN MEXICO

If I had to describe in short how Mexico went it would be enough if I said that I'm really gutted. Only the beginning was rally and the rest was then siesta.

Maybe the readers feel like we would go through the same thing over and over again but let's say it again. We knew before the season that this wasn't going to be easy. We learn from mistakes. And we have learned - I can guarantee that.

The first rally on gravel wasn't too hot for Kaitsu and me. We had a big roll in the mountain range. The best before that was that we already got some promising times just before that mistake.

I just lost traction when braking. There was some lump beside the dusty road and from that the car flipped around. It was quite a banging when we rolled six times through the roof in a whole body spin to the bottom of the hill.

Mostly I was gutted for not being able to continue on Saturday. The regulations say that you can't continue if there's even the slightest crack in the safety cage.

Now we lost two important driving days. Every rally more with this car wouldn't hurt me at least. At least in Mexico our car felt really good. My team mate even got to the podium with the car.

Never mind. The opening day was tricky enough without the ending. I hit a rock in the beginning and we had to give half an hour of leverage to others once again when there were some probs with the fuel supply and we couldn't find the problem anywhere at first.

But it's like this. It's part of rally's nature. We will go forward with humility. Learn all the time and there will come a race where we don't have to compose anything extra on the road.

The car is now being built for Jordan at the workshop. Now I have some resting in my schedule. After that we will drive one test and go to Jordan.

I'm going as an apprentice there too because these other guys have rallied there before. For me and Kaitsu everything is completely new.

But the passion to learn is just as 10 as it was before the first rally.

In Mexico we went quite nicely forward in notes too. It's coming.

Source: Kimiraikkonen.com
Courtesy: Nicole Planet-F1

More Kimi in Mexico!!!

Kimi appears with his beautiful long hair from 1:57 on...

Source: You Tube

Corona Rally Mexico 2010: Kimi Räikkönen in SS2

Source: Youtube

WRC: Kimi Raikkonen's steep learning curve

By Emmanuel Rolland

The first two rounds of the World Rally Championship proved to be a real challenge indeed for rookie driver Kimi Raikkonen, the former Formula 1 World Champion.

The Finn made a risqué move by leaving Formula 1 to try his luck in the WRC with Citroen Junior Team with the Red Bull sponsorship.

During the Arctic Lapland Rally, he hit a tree and finished well behind the leaders. Then, at Rally Sweden (opening round of the WRC), he bumped into a snow bank and again lost significant time.

The Corona Rally Mexico (Round 2 of the WRC) was even worse. Near the end of the race on Day 1, Raikkonen made a severe exit that turned into a horrifying series of rolls.

Fortunately, both he and his co-driver Kaj Lindström came out uninjured. However, the same could not be said of the car, which was totally destroyed.

But let’s hold off any harsh judgment on Raikkonen, who boldly did what most other drivers wouldn’t dare try — having nothing left to prove in F1 after a glorious career that began with a surprising move from Formula Renault to Formula 1 with McLaren in 2001 and culminated with a world championship at Ferrari in 2007 (his first season with the Scuderia), he decided to completely reinvent himself and take up a whole new challenge.

Don’t forget that other WRC drivers all took the long, "classic" road to where they are now. They learned the rally ropes over many trials and errors at regional, national and international levels. Raikkonen came in with virtually no rally background whatsoever despite his innate sense of speed and direction. He barely got time to test the C4. In fact, the testing session prior to Mexico had to be cancelled because he was complaining of back pains that resulted from his times in F1.

Raikkonen’s early results should definitely not cast a shadow over his first WRC season. All seem to agree that he has progressed a lot since the first round in Sweden and he was doing well in Mexico before that spectacular loss of control forced him to quit.

A year ago, Sébastien Loeb got caught in a similar situation while tackling a tortuous descent and, just like Raikkonen, his Citroen C4 went flying and rolled over.

The kid sure likes to go fast, but he has to find his limit. The crash in Mexico will teach him a lesson and, while he’s not the kind of driver who minds heavy pressure on his shoulders, he has his work cut out for him. His teammate Sébastien Ogier, who finished third in the last race, is considered by many to be the heir to Sébastien Loeb.

Raikkonen needs to make his mark. Let’s just give him a little time.

Source: Auto123

Accident of Kimi Räikkönen in Mexico Rally 2010

Source: YouTube

Kimi Räikkönen SS1 and SS2 in Mexico Rally 2010

Source: YouTube

No SuperRally return for Raikkonen

Citroen Junior team driver Kimi Raikkonen will not restart Rally Mexico on Saturday after an inspection revealed his car was too badly damaged in a multiple roll on SS7.

After losing more than half an hour with an electrical problem on today's second stage, Raikkonen went on to set an eighth, a seventh, and a fifth fastest time: his highest-ever overall stage result in his short World Championship career.

But it all went wrong on the final proper stage of the day, SS7, when the Finn rolled into retirement virtually within sight of the finish line. With his Citroen C4 too badly damaged to continue, Kimi’s Rally Mexico is over.

The 2007 Formula 1 World Champion said: “It was very unlucky: the car just slid wide at the end of the stage in a slippery braking area, so we clipped the side of the road and rolled a few times. I had hoped for some good things from this rally, but this was only my seventh event and I am still learning. It’s normal that when you are learning anything you can get caught out by something and this is what happened to me today.

"My biggest disappointment is that we’re not able to continue, as I wanted to have as much time in the car as I could. I had a really good feeling earlier and I wanted to push to see what we could do. I’m sure we will come back stronger at our next event though, and while today was disappointing, I’m really enjoying my rally adventure.”

Kaj Lindstrom, who has been Kimi’s co-driver since the Finn started rallying last year said: “It was a shame that we ended our rally how we did as Kimi was making excellent progress, both with the driving and the pace notes. When we went off we were in a braking area for a left and then a right hand corner with lots of dust and gravel. Kimi had been driving perfectly to the notes and it’s the sort of thing that could happen to anyone. Up until then things had been going really well, and I’m confident that we’ll be on track again at our next event. It’s all part of the game.”

Raikkonen will be back in action at the Rally Jordan from March 31-April 3.

Source: WRC

Kimi Räikkönen Crash in Corona Rally Mexico 2010

Translation of what he says in the car (thanks to Nicole):

Kimi:oh f*uck, oh f*uck, oh f*uck

Kaitsu:Are you alright?

Kimi: Yes

Kaitsu: So am I

Kimi: I braked and it started to slide from that.

Source: YouTube

Pics of Kimi Chash in Mexico Rally

Source: MTV3

Räikkönen's back injury dates back to F1

05.03.2010
Räikkönen had to skip the gravel tests for Mexico because of his backaches.

- It's old injuries from F1. I have two distensed discs. The other one was operated by laser a week ago. It hurts all the time but there's nothing more we could do about it, Räikkönen tells in Citroen's statement.

He surprised everybody on Thursday by being the fastest Finnish guy in the shakedown. The rally starts today. Kimi will start the weekend with a back-support.

- Hopefully we can drive normally and get it fixed later, Räikkönen said.

Kimi Räikkönen who drove the fastest Finnish time in the shakedown also had problems just like the rest had on the water-stage.

Just like Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala he also broke the car when trying to cross the water.

- The cooling devices broke down. Hopefully they will last all through the rally. No matter how slow or fast we tried to drive the seem to break down and the hood turned up, Räikkönen said.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Nicole Planet-F1

Raikkonen satisfied with Mexico shakedown performance

Citroen Junior Team driver Kimi Raikkonen says that he enjoyed today's Rally Mexico shakedown, after he posted an impressive fifth fastest time.

Despite having to wear a kidney belt to support a back injury, the Finn showed no signs of discomfort as he tackled the 5.13km shakedown stage a number of times.

"Today on the shakedown was the first time we had the C4 on gravel," said Raikkonen. "It was a nice experience, and for sure the rally will be difficult. The stages are quite tricky but nice, so we will see how it goes.

"The set-up on the car is definitely different from Sweden and unfortunately we didn't have a test because I had some problems with my back. But so far today was good, so hopefully when we start the event tomorrow we can be happy and have a good rally."

Source: Citroën WRC - Rally Buzz

Pics from Kimi Today in Rally Mexico 2010

Shakedown

Rally Mexico Press Conferences

Source: FIA

Sebastien Ogier Citroen Junior Team pre-Rally Mexico test – Video

Video clip of Sebastien Ogier, aboard a Citroen C4 WRC, testing in the south of France, prior to Rally Mexico

Citroen Junior Team driver Kimi Raikkonen was scheduled to test on the Saturday, but a reported back injury ruled him out of the session.


Extrait Essais C4 WRC, Sebatien Ogier - Julien Ingrassia
by vw-nolimit01

Source: Rally Buzz

KIMI ADMITS: I WILL MAKE STUPID MISTAKES IN THE FUTURE TOO

Räikkönen couldn't say what was the most diffcult in the opening race.

- I guess everything. I learned a lot of things and also made stupid mistakes. We lost the game when we didn't see anything and got stuck in the snowbank when driving in a walking speed. Then there were some spins today and we touched the snowbanks. I guess it's normal since the conditions were tricky. The main thing was that we improved a little all the time.

Did you learn anything else than how to use the shovel?

- I think I knew how to shovel before that already, Kimi laughed.

But I meant everything in general. When you haven't drove a rally like this you learn a lot. I should just learn as quickly as possible but because there always comes something new it will take it's own time. Let's just wait for a while.

Stupid mistakes bug me. I'm sure there will be more of them in the future but at least we got to the finish line. We will try to improve after this.
- I never had any big expectations. I knew this was going to be a difficult race but of course some things surprised me, for example how difficult some stages and conditions were. The situations come pretty quickly when you don't have the experience if there is for example deep tracks or much snow. Maybe it will get easier when we go on gravel.

- We will go testing to Mexico next week. I haven't drove one meter on sand with the car so that is also going to be a new experience. After this it's going to be easier to go there though, Kimi thought.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Nicole Planet F1