Kimi Räikkönen has taken ten WC-points when winning a F1-grand prix. From Turkey Rally Kimi also took ten WC-points when bringing his Citroen C4 WRC-car 5th to the finish.A indisputable progress and flawless performance raised these ten points to the level of a winning-atmosphere.
Citroen Junior Team's boss Benoit Nogier thanked Räikkönen's performance and speed of progress.
- Kimi is going forward with speed. Now he has succeeded to run away from those drivers with whom he still faught at the beginning of this race. This is very encouraging progress from Kimi as a rally-driver, Nogier praises.
Räikkönen's good weekend was fulfilled when the flight back home was organised on Sunday-evening on a private jet from Istanbul to Nizza, from where he drives back home to Switzerland.
Speed of progress in order
Co-driver Kaj Lindtröm was once again pleased when the star-student is improving race by race at least according to the most demanding exceptations.
- Of course this kind of result is good when Kimi doesn't have much of experience in rally. It wasn't flawless, but almost. On a few stages the engine stalled at the same intersection , but that was it.
The Turkey Rally, which was taken to a new route, gave Räikkönen and Lindström also a good situational review.
- At this point of Kimi's career-development one don't have to wonder anymore what is the difference to the top when the rally-route is unfamiliar to everyone. I didn't yet calculate the different stages but it probably lies around 1 second, Lindström said.
A part of the routes was driven on tarmac, which was the third element where Räikkönen is driving for the first time on a WRC-car.
- I was probably too careful on tarmac until I realized how much grip there were. I'm pretty satisfied with my pace, Räikkönen said.
According to Lindström experience can't be called tarmac-driving.
- We drove on gravel settings and gravel tires. It is a totally different thing when we drive the first actual tarmac-rally in July in Bulgary, he reminded.
Naturally Räikkönen's end result was maximized by the set-backs experienced by the two drivers who belong to the top 6, Dani Sordo and Jari-Matti Latvala.
- Of course others' unfortune helped but it belongs to the spirit of motorsport, Räikkönen reminded.
Braking on the last stage
Sunday's ending stage was according to Räikkönen the most difficult of the weekend. There Lindström had to brake [slow] the driver, so they stayed on the road.
- The last stage was more than slippery and very difficult. It had to be taken carefully so that the race wouldn't get a bad ending, Räikkönen explained.
There is a one week pause ahead. Räikkönen won't participate in New Zealand WRC-rally and will drive next in Portugal at the end of May.
Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Leijona
