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#172706
I can't see him doing that in his first year.... Hirvonen!!!


Hirvonen deserved it this year, had it not been for Latvala's silly mistake in Poland and Solberg giving Loeb the win in Spain we would have had a different WRC champion this year.

Kimi won't win it. He won't have the ability to drive a WRC car to it's limit till the end of the season.
#172947
Raikkonen's WRC switch deal done

By Jonathan Noble and Gerhard Kuntschik Thursday, December 3rd 2009, 13:32 GMT

Kimi Raikkonen's switch to the World Rally Championship is expected to be confirmed in the next few hours, AUTOSPORT has learned.

The Finn has been considering his options in the wake of a failure to complete a deal with McLaren, which was his only realistic chance to remain in F1 next year after he agreed to end his Ferrari contract early.

He had been widely expected to make the move to the WRC, and sources have revealed that he has now completed a deal to compete with the Red Bull-backed Citroen junior team alongside Sebastien Ogier.

It is understood that Raikkonen will contest the entire WRC season apart from the New Zealand Rally, which his team is not competing in. He will also participate in the Arctic Rally.

Raikkonen has made no secret of the fact that he is looking at a return to F1 in 2011 - with speculation already suggesting he is high on Red Bull Racing's list to partner Sebastian Vettel.

The fact that Red Bull is backing Raikkonen's rally efforts will do little to quell those rumours, although sources at the energy drinks company are adamant that the current ties mean nothing for his future F1 ambitions.

"This has no prejudice at all for Kimi's further F1 career if he intends one," a source close to Red Bull told AUTOSPORT. "It does not mean at all that he will replace a current Red Bull F1 driver in our team from 2011."
#172950
Raikkonen's WRC switch deal done

By Jonathan Noble and Gerhard Kuntschik Thursday, December 3rd 2009, 13:32 GMT

Kimi Raikkonen's switch to the World Rally Championship is expected to be confirmed in the next few hours, AUTOSPORT has learned.

The Finn has been considering his options in the wake of a failure to complete a deal with McLaren, which was his only realistic chance to remain in F1 next year after he agreed to end his Ferrari contract early.

He had been widely expected to make the move to the WRC, and sources have revealed that he has now completed a deal to compete with the Red Bull-backed Citroen junior team alongside Sebastien Ogier.

It is understood that Raikkonen will contest the entire WRC season apart from the New Zealand Rally, which his team is not competing in. He will also participate in the Arctic Rally.

Raikkonen has made no secret of the fact that he is looking at a return to F1 in 2011 - with speculation already suggesting he is high on Red Bull Racing's list to partner Sebastian Vettel.

The fact that Red Bull is backing Raikkonen's rally efforts will do little to quell those rumours, although sources at the energy drinks company are adamant that the current ties mean nothing for his future F1 ambitions.

"This has no prejudice at all for Kimi's further F1 career if he intends one," a source close to Red Bull told AUTOSPORT. "It does not mean at all that he will replace a current Red Bull F1 driver in our team from 2011."


Excellent! :thumbup:
#182089
http://www.specialstage.com/2010/01/...s-wrcar-debut/

Finland’s 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen has crashed on his first competitive event driving for the Citroen Junior World Rally Team.

Raikkonen was placed second overall in the Arctic Lapland Rally when his car left the road and crashed into a tree on the event’s second stage, the 23km Aittajarvi.

Kimi and co-driver Kaj Lindstrom were unhurt in the incident, but their C4 World Rally Car sustained damage to its right-hand front corner. With help from spectators the pair eventually got the car back on the road and underway again, but the episode cost them more than 15 minutes on the stage, and more than 20 minutes of penalty time.

The team is hopeful that once the car is repaired in service, Raikkonen will be able to continue in today’s competition.

Raikkonen and Lindstrom are tackling the winter event, the opening round of the Finnish championship, as a warm-up before their WRC campaign kicks off in Sweden on 11 February.

It is the first competitive outing for the duo in the Citroen C4 World Rally Car they will campaign this season. However it’s not a new event for the pair, who made their rally debut together there in 2009, finishing 13th in a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000.

Before the crash, Raikkonen had got off to a good start. In perfect snowy conditions, and in a temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius, he recorded the second fastest time though Friday’s opening stage, the 11.27km Rantasipi Pohjanhovi / Mantyvaara. The only man to beat him – by a margin of 5.5sec – was his fellow Citroen C4 driver, Dani Sordo, who is also using the event as a pre-season test.

After two stages, Sordo, now the sole World Rally Car driver in the predominantly Group N field, leads the rally by 26.1sec from the Estonian, Ott Tanak.
#182094
I think he has just had enough of the bull s**t that goes with being an F1 driver. where as WRC is more fan/driver friendly

I wholeheartedly believe that if you think it's time for a change, you should change it up as sticking with something you don't enjoy makes a massive difference to your day to day attitude. But I believe that Kimi has never really been very animated as a F1 driver, but as a WRC driver he seems much more animated and happier.

So I say good luck to him, he is clearly a talented driver but F1 isn't where his heart is I believe!


Well said.
#182105
http://www.specialstage.com/2010/01/...s-wrcar-debut/

Finland’s 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen has crashed on his first competitive event driving for the Citroen Junior World Rally Team.



Ohh well, I bet the ice cream and cokes got a hammering right after that :hehe:
#182110
http://www.specialstage.com/2010/01/...s-wrcar-debut/

Finland’s 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen has crashed on his first competitive event driving for the Citroen Junior World Rally Team.



Ohh well, I bet the ice cream and cokes got a hammering right after that :hehe:


Nope, he's still in and the only guy really faster is Sordo (although Kimi has loads of time penalties after his incident)... could really be worse for a first outing in a new car in a relatively new form of motorsport.
#344013
:spaz::spaz: Kimi nipped over to NASCAR just prior to F1 testing??? :confused:

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