Kimi's columns

[Arli Racegirl]

Kimi Rally Finland Review

One ditch too much
http://www.kimiraikkonen.com/

[Wolfie]

Kimi Rally Finland review in Finnish

ONE DITCH TOO MUCH

We finished the rally. We got the kilometers we had set for our target but didn't take the points. It bugs because there were a few small misses and we couldn't stay in the bunch of ten until up to Saturday morning.

I have to say that Jyskälä is a great rally. I can't but congratulate the Finnish rally fans.

This is a rally country and the whole gang was fully with us alongside the roads starting from six in the morning. It gives you a great feeling to drive with a support like that.

I have never got so much support anywhere else and I'm sure all the other Finnish drivers think exactly the same way.

The new format worked well. We drove for two days from morning to evening. I thought it was a successful trial. It felt completely different than it has felt in other races.

I have to say that it's cool to run a fast rally like this with a decent machine. These are great cars. We enjoyed every stage "100" when there's twisting and power to push, the chassis works and the brakes are top class.

It was difficult in the beginning. We didn't really get into the rhythm. We tried different settings before we got the setup to fall in place and set some good SS-times after that. There was a good twist too when we got to race against Kankkunen's Juha for the 7th position. The age isn't weighing him down, that's for sure. He went that fast.

Of course you are never completely satisfied with any stage but there was a few after which we could smile for a reason.

Then Kolonkulma on Saturday morning just went wrong. The car slided on the morning stage to a ditch in a corner turning to the right. We didn't go terribly fast but it was a deep ditch and the car got stuck. We tried to get it up by using the gas but only managed to break the front. Luckily there was enough gang so that we got help to get back on the road.

After that we had to do some tyre work because we only had one spare tyre. One tyre was completely wasted but the other one could be put back on the rim.

We jumped on it for a while and got to continue our journey.

Congratulations to the fan who is somewhere dragging the Citroen bumper as a souvenir.

It went well since we could continue. After the service we got all the pieces back. The rest went well. We got important kilometers of the rally pace both for the car and the dude.

It was great that we got a Finnish winner in Finland's WRC-rally. It means a lot to the rally people.

Now we will change from gravel back to tarmac. We will test in Germany next weekend and after that we are ready for the next challenge. Let's see how it hits in Germany.

[Anelise]

Thanks Nicole!!!!!!

[dindi]

I love how he calls his fans his "gang"

I LMAO-ed at this:

Congratulations to the fan who is somewhere dragging the Citroen bumper as a souvenir.

Kiitos, Nikki!

[luieluv]

thanks nicole

[f194girl]

We will test in Germany next weekend and after that we are ready for the next challenge. Let's see how it hits in Germany.

I would like to know where they will test ?

[Vida]

thanks nicole

[Wolfie]

I love how he calls his fans his "gang"

I LMAO-ed at this:

Congratulations to the fan who is somewhere dragging the Citroen bumper as a souvenir.

Kiitos, Nikki!

I know Dindi - I could just see someone dragging the front bumper in the woods (and probably fighting off those who also wanted it)

[saif]

kittos Nicole!

[luviceman]

Kittos Wolfie

[Anelise]

Kimi German Rally Preview

A Concrete challenge

It's time we are heading for Germany. They say it's a tarmac surface, but most of all, for me, it brings a new challenge to go fast on the concrete roads, too.

Obviously, I know well the Red Bull Citroën Junior Team us to get through the weekend without mistakes and errors. This is the second tarmac rally of the season. We should heve the pace for the good result - as long as we avoid the biggerish mistakes.

In Rally Finland I got the luxury of having done it once before. But the rest of the season I have just all new places to go rallying.

Well, Germany Rally is a brand new race for me, but still it feels nicer to get back to the tarmac rally. Most of the time in Bulgaria was very encouraging for us. But as well we know, it's not helping a single bit this time.

German Rally is so different compared to the stages in Bulgaria. Instead of a whole tarmac rally we have plenty of miles on the roads surfaced with concrete. What I've heard, they are very slippery and we have to handle il with care down there.

Obviously, there is a lot talking of the pace notes in every rally, but this time it's even more important to get them perfecly right. We have to very precise and very careful with making the pace notes for this rally.

The most extreme points is the 48 kilometre special stage. It's the longest stage we'll have with these WRC cars. While you do that twice, it's almost one third of the total of the special stage kilometres in this rally.

I presume, it's going to be pretty hot in the cabin in that stage and, for sure, it will show the importance of the experience much more than in any other place. Obviously, it's the stage you'll win or lose in a big way, too.

After Rally Finland we had a couple of tests in Germany. Everything went well. The car felt good and we found some new settings for this rally.

Germany has never been good place for me, while I raced in Formula One. There was not a single weekend, we got everything nicely together. Always something went wrong.

But I'm not going to take any pressure of the old times. This is a different kind of a challenge and my number one hope is to finish the rally without any major hiccups. If we managed to do it, fine. We need all the miles available to clinch more the rallying experience we need so much in this point of my racing career.

After Jyväskylä I chilled out a little while with trial and golf. Of course, I trained every day to be ready for this new interesting rally event. Let's wait and see what we manage to achieve this time.

[Wolfie]

Thanks Anelise, hopefully the Finnish is in soon

[Wolfie]

Kimi German Rally preview in Finnish

A CONCRETE RIDE

I know the team hopes that we could make it through German Rally without mistakes. It's the season's second tarmac rally and our ride should be enough for us to reach quite good results.

I had drove in Jyskälä once before. From now on this season's remaining rallies are all completely new places to me.

Even though Germany is once again a completely new rally for me it still feels cool to get back on tarmac. Bulgaria was mostly promising but it doesn't help one bit now. This is a completely different rally. In Germany they drive a lot on concrete instead of on tarmac and from what I've heard it's a damn slippery road.

There's been talk about the notes every time, about how important they are and how difficult it is to learn them. I don't need anyone highlighting to me how noting would has to succeed really well in this rally and how I have to be extra careful with it.

I'm sure that the really long stage that I haven't drove with a rally car ever before is going to be pretty cool. It's about 50 km long and when you take the stages twice it will be an enormous amount of all the SS-kilometers.

It might get quite hot inside the cockpit and you know that the experience the top dudes have will only shine through better than before.

It's a clear thing that it is a place where it's important to drive without making mistakes. You can win or lose really big time.

We tested a couple of times in Germany. The car worked, everything went well and we found new setups again.

From the formula-times Germany isn't a place for me that I would like to remember. Something always went wrong.

Now we take off with a rally car and without those strains. The most important thing is to drive the race from the beginning to the end in a clean way. That is my number one wish and it's great if it happens. We need badly more kilometers in our meter so that we can get more experience which is what we need the most at this stage. After Jyskälä we had time to chill out. We rode trial, played golf and trained every day.

Now we are ready. We will see on Sunday how it went for us.

[Anelise]

Thanks Nicole!!!!!

[Kriss]

Thanks Nicole!!!!!

+1