I dont think anyone will annouce Kimi as the 2010 WRC champion.

As for Rami, Kimi didn't crash out last year, so perhaps he also heard the notes incorrectly.

Kimi Räikkönen took the blame on himself for driving out during the second stage.

- I heard the note wrong and we drove into the snow bank because of it, Räikkönen admitted to MTV3.

It cost Kimi about half an hour.

- There was a tree, about as thick as a leg, and we went through it. Those things happen. That's why we came here, so that we could screw up everything that can be screwed up and learn from that. So that we wouldn't have to do the same mistakes in the upcoming races, Räikkönen said.

On the dark stage Räikköen had problems with visibility.

- It was difficult because it was snowing so I didn't see well. Our lights were a bit too high.

- On one stage the crossroad went a bit far and we had to back.

Räikkönen has been about one second per kilometer behind Dani Sordo on stages without problems.

- I see it myself, that I pump up quite a lot and hustle this and that but the times are pretty OK. I think it will start to go better. I could probably go faster if I would drive seriously but the main thing is that we could learn all different things. We can destroy this car now, Kimi said.

MTV3 – Jani Merimaa ja Anette Latva-Piikkilä, Rovaniemi

(Translation thanks to Nicole)

Brothers in arms:

73.( 45)Rami Räikkönen SM1 1:07:46,5 28:48,3 9:17,8
74.( 3) Kimi Räikkönen A18 1:11:30,4 32:32,2 3:43,9

Its is a POV thing, really.
9'34:3 2'23:23 4'03:11:1 81ɐ uǝuöʞʞıäɹ ıɯıʞ (3 ).47
8'71:9 3'84:82 5'64:70:1 1ɯs uǝuöʞʞıäɹ ıɯɐɹ(54 ).37

Kimi probably lost a bit of time on the 6th stage as there was some car stopped on the road before him and he had to slow down whereas Sordo could go flat out. Kimi also ran one corner a bit wide and lost a second or two there.

(Info thanks to Vers)

...that's not rally at all.

A co-driver does more than just sit there and read pace notes. They practically organize 99% of the logistics of running the car in the rally as well as a crucial second pair of hands if/when they need to do repairs out of the service park.

Pace note making, reading, and understanding is an organic thing. Not something that you can replicate with a HUD or overlay on the windscreen. At most you'll get a fairly inaccurate/bare idea of which direction the road is going to go but nothing about road condition, rocks, trees, cautions etc. etc.

It's far, far, far, far more than just "tracing the line" driving.

One must remember that Sordo not only has a 100 times more experience in rallying than Kimi but also a 100 times more experience with the C4.

I guess that shows Kimi has learned to drive to the notes.

Any experienced rally driver can crash when driving flat out on snow/ice/gravel so no heavy criticism for events on stage 2.

Kimi's later stage times are very credible, and even though I've never been a particular fan of his, given his lack of experience in the sport, I've nothing but admiration for his performance.

It would be a very great achievement if he were to become WRC in a year or two. Judging by his speed at this early stage of his rallying career, it has to be a possibility. We need to see how he performs throughout this season against Sebastien Loeb.

Becoming a winner of both the F1 and WR Championships would be a similar feat to John Surtees winning both Motorcycle and F1 World Championships. I would love to see him do it.

It would be a very great achievement if he were to become proper WRC driver in few years, considering he has effectively missed the entire preparation in lower series all his competitors have. Winning the title in few years would be miracle, and it won´t happen.

Just for the record, Sebastian Loeb won the title in his 6th year. And he was already junior level champ before that.

Fun day

Loeb is a fantastic driver, so his achievements and carrier is hard beat even for a man like Kimi.


Today Kimi did what he has to do at the first rally that everybody does. There is no surprise that this happened. I like the way now Kimi says that they can destroy this car now. The car looked like the Terminator...

I will be back... (red eyes)

Has this interview been posted?

Didn't understand a word but didn't need to, I've never seen Kimi so smiling and animated in F1. I think that's it now, he'll stay in rallying.

Well, he is top professional Formula 1 driver who is paid NOT to drive Formula 1,
but gets to drive his lifelong rally dream as kind of new hobby on World class level.

Not bad

Good point!

Some footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyJr0otWnHc

DAVID EVANS!!!!!!!! ..... tsk tsk tsk....





So..... Tanak is beaten by Salo all afternoon by 2 seconds each stage....after Tanak clearly has an off on stage 3 and is 56 seconds slower than Sordo.... NOT that head turning to be fair...
Evans then claims he is SECOND IN CLASS... to Dani Sordo...driving a GROUP N SUBARU! Hmmmm so Sordo is driving an N4 car is he?

Seriously David.... that is shockingly poor journalism chap! Ott Tanak is driving a Focus WRC... hence why he is second in class to Sordo...considering Kimi spent half an hour in a ditch...

Juha Salo however...has been mighty impressive in his Group N Mitsubishi Evo 10!

C'mon David...proof read man!

Well, you gotta smile for the lady with the mic ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7oXAi5i2H8...feature=related

I think this is the attitude that Ferrari disliked...

Raikkonen second quickest to Sordo on all three of this afternoon's stages. Not bad form for his first rally in the C4.

What annoys me is always when they make promos with Kimi, they do not give him phrases that fits his way of speaking. It would be sooo easy to make use of his image and make really funny clipsinstead of trying to make him sound like a typical commercials actor.

Cause they are idiots.

EK 7 (27.43 km) Vauhdin Maailma aika ero 1.een
1.( 1)Dani Sordo A18 12:53,5
2.(101)Ott Tänak A18 13:10,0 0:16,5
3.( 3)Kimi Räikkönen A18 13:18,5 0:25,0

Kimi loosing stage to Tänek? Sounds like small mistake to me.

Don't think so. Yesterdays std distance to Sordo was 1s/km. Same now.

Ok, then it means that Tänek did very good stage.

That's true.
Yesterday he was second overall behind Sordo with only a minute's gap! Very impressive if we consider that Juha is driving a car of a weaker class.

EK 8 (29.89 km) Lapin Safarit aika ero 1.een

1.( 1)Dani Sordo A18 14:07,6
2.( 3)Kimi Räikkönen A18 14:35,0 0:27,4
3.( 2)Juha Salo(M) SM1 16:17,6 2:10,0

Still about 1 s/km

That was the longest stage and properly the most difficult stage for Kimi.

It seems like something has happened with Tanak, and Sordo apparently said that there was someone riding a motorsledge on the road.

I hope Tänek and co-driver are ok. Seems something has happened.

And Juha Salo has started to loose lot time, maybe car problems?

That´s Anette Latva-Piikkilä. She used to race go-karts with Kimi many years ago. I guess she has forgiven the race where Kimi almost literally drove over her (if I remember correctly, poor Anette broke her ankle).

Some unspecified car-related problems for Juha Salo. [from radio]

EK9 is just 3.7km long. Maybe he can beat Sordo ?

Tänak has retired from rally, reason apparently being oil pressure.

His engine has lost some power.

Didn't Anette and Kimi use to date each other, I remember reading something like that.

She and Kimi dated back in the day...

EK 9 (3.70 km) aika ero 1.een
1.( 1)Dani Sordo A18 2:39,1
2.( 3)Kimi Räikkönen A18 2:44,2 0:05,1

Imo Kimi is doing really well. Again he is losing only 1 second per Km. Not bad at all

Kaj said in an interview that the Arctic rally race is a test race to Kimi and they will try different things during the race. It can influence his speed.
He also says that Kimi is complaining about the car "this doesn't really go!" as he is used to F1 cars speed.

(Info thanks to Appletree)

Mark Arnall admits that the F1-regulations changed to Kimi's disadvantage last season.

- The driver's weight was important in F1 because of the KERS-drvice. We did a lot of work to make Kimi smaller because he was 2-3 kg overweight after KERS was put in. Some bigger drivers had even more difficulties, Arnall told MTV3.

In rally Räikkönen is weighed together with Kaitsu.

- The minimum weight is 150 kg. We are a little above it. We are more or less where we should be, Arnall said.

- Driving rally is more easier on Kimi because he doesn't have to put up with the same G-forces as in F1. The driving position is quite different so the muscles work in a different way. We will change the training according to which parts work more than before and which less, Arnall tells.

- In rally you sit in the car more than in F1 with pace notes and transitions. The rally car bumps the driver up and down more than a F1-car. That kind of bumping strains the lower back, Arnall continues.

MTV3 – Jani Merimaa ja Anette Latva-Piikkilä, Rovaniemi

(Translation thanks to Nicole)

I imagine he is doing this jokingly?

Noup.
Kimi is saying that there is something wrong with the cars chassis and something must be done to it...

Kimi is just doing a bit of PR work, no attitude there.

Apparently the 8th stage will be disqualified, because there is a car on fire.

Kimi said to the rally radio that he could have gone faster but he is just there to gain experience.

I hope he doesn't embarass himself too often in rallying. I don't want to see him wasting a great seat again in F1.

Hey - fancy seeing you here!