Kimi's columns

[dindi]

Awww... kiitos, Nikki! So nice to see Kimi being more relaxed about his fans and acknowledging them. Domo arigato to the Japanese Iceheads!

[Julia]

Kimis japan rewiev is up on his homepage (in finnish)

Can wolfie or somebody else translate?

here is what mtv3 says about it...

http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/ralli/uutise ... 09/1188746

[Wolfie]

Kimis japan rewiev is up on his homepage (in finnish)

Can wolfie or somebody else translate?

here is what mtv3 says about it...

http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/ralli/uutise ... 09/1188746

Thanks Julia, I can translate it now

[Wolfie]

Kimi Rally Japan review in Finnish

SAYONARA!

I would never claim that the rally in Japan is easy but in the end it wasn't the world's toughest either. The route was challenging and the roads were really narrow at times. It was cool to run it.

We just went off the road. My blunder, can't help it. It happened during the last note, I got it a bit wrong and it was immediately sayonara. We came a bit too fast to the corner and I couldn't get it back on the road and so we fell quietly into the bushes.

Because there wasn't a soul in the landscape we couldn't get out of there, just me and Kaitsu.

It was the second retirement this season and I didn't get all the kilometers under my belt. Of course it bugs me and it bugs because I could have taken that corner more easily. It just hurts everytime in rally when you make a small mistake. On F1-tracks you are always forgiven more.

The starting position was tricky because we went straight on gravel after Rally Germany. We had no testing so it had some affect when we first took care of the super special stage in the stadium and went after that to run on the dirt roads in the forest.

Technical problems in the beginning are annoying. The machines just refused to gallop so we couldn't really get anywhere when the car didn't work like it should have worked. After we found the right setups it started to show in the stagetimes too.

We just didn't make it to the finish line. What was important was that we drove until the last day and collected again some experience from a different rally. When you are in this game you just have to get used to the fact that everything can happen. It's after all the number 1 -thing in this learning year.

The next rally is in France then. Others haven't drove there either and because it's a tarmac rally it's of course a more familiar surface to me than these Sapporo's forest paths are. It's good to get some testing at this point so that we get a better feeling of the rally.

It will be my 4th rally on tarmac with a WRC-car. I have the same goals.

The most important thing is to finish the rally and avoid the bigger blunders.

[Anelise]

Thanks Nicole!!!!!

[YiNing]

Thanks Nicole !!! I'll post it on KRS

[beefree88]

Kimi Rally Japan review in Finnish

Thanks. You're fast:)

[tigerlily]

Thanks Nicole!
Great to read.

It's sad to hear the word "sayonara" from Kimi.
I remember he used "sayonara" in his review of 2008 Japanese Grand Prix.
He said "sayonara" to the championship.

I wanted him to finish the rally.
Kimi, please finish the Rally France!

[YiNing]

I thought maybe it was 2009 Japanese GP Kimi used "Sayonara" in his review? It was a sad day in Suzuka when they announced Alonso to the Farting horse...

[Maria d]

thanks nicole, i like the way he says blunder.

[Ice-Ludy]

Kimi Rally France preview

Vive la France!

Well, this is the rally we have been looking forward with very positive feelings since the rally-Bulgaria in mid-July.

We are heading for the second brand new tarmac rally of the WRC season. As well as we got some handicap in Bulgaria, I expect having a tiny advantage in our side against the frontrunners in Rally France, too.

Obviously, the other drivers won't be benefitting that much of the pace notes from the last ten years and the familiarity of the roads. This time we are all starting more or less from the same level and all of us has to learn all the stages from now on.

We didn't have a test session after Rally Japan, but, instead, we went to the local French Rally of Vosgien. It was good practise and good fun. We achieved some good results, we found some good things in the car and we got a good feel with the French roads similar we are gonna have in the WRC rally this weekend.

Me and my co-driver Kaj Lindstrom were happy with the work we did and with the feeling we had with the car during those special stages. We started the rally with the basic set-up, moved to a wrong way, but coming back to the basics it went right and now we should have a solid foundation to start the real rally on Friday.

Obviously, it's very difficult to say anything beforehand how the rally goes this time. We have to wait until we get there in the area and starting pushing. We go there to find the right rhytm quickly and to get things going smoothly since the very beginning this time.

To finish the rally without major errors is the target as always, but you never know, unfortunately, while I'm still lacking the long rally experience to score good results every time.

For the teams with Citroen WRC C4 cars, this will be a special weekend. While you drive a rally with a French car in France, you will get a lot of support and cheering from all the French fans. The French are real rally people like my Finnish compatriots. For sure, the atmosphere is going to be great - like in Finland.

Sebastien Loeb has a chance to clinch his world title. I don't know how many of them he has, I have lost in counting long time ago, but one thing I know - he's doing all he can to win his home rally and become a champion at home.

We hang on to do our very best. I still feel frustraded with some mistakes we had in the last couple of rallies. It feels just good to go back to tarmac, which gives me a cozy feeling every time.

We had a good training with a local rally in Italia before Bulgaria and that helped us there. I just hope the good feeling we got from Vosgien rally helps us in the same way this weekend in the Strasborg area as well.

Now it´s in the right thread!!!

[momo]

Thanks Ice-Ludy!

[Ice-Ludy]

Thanks Ice-Ludy!

You're welcome Momo!

[Wolfie]

Thanks Ludy

The Finnish is also in so I'll start translating it.

[Kriss]

Thanks Ludy

The Finnish is also in so I'll start translating it.

thanks Ludy and Nikki