Räikkönen knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but then if it were easy everyone would do it. It took a special kind of unflappable courage to rise to the occasion and not care what anybody said or thought: the sort of resolve that can only be displayed by somebody whose nickname is ‘The Iceman’.After just three events, he had become the first Formula One world champion ever to score WRC points, thanks to his eighth place in Jordan. His best result of the year came shortly afterwards, when he finished fifth on the all-new Rally of Turkey: a real indicator of his potential.
When things were going well, Räikkönen showed that he had the pace to fight at the front: he was running comfortably in the top four on the opening day of Rally Bulgaria, beating the factory Fords. On Rallye Deutschland in August, he won the Circus Maximus stage in Trier: another first.
But his contribution to the WRC this year goes beyond just his results. Räikkönen proved to be a fantastic ambassador for the sport, creating a huge amount of interest from both media and fans wherever he went.
In Räikkönen’s opinion, world rallying is a lot harder than Formula One. And coming from somebody who built a global following for fearlessly exploring the limits of adhesion, that’s quite an admission. Räikkönen wants to stay in the WRC next year; this is your chance to show just how much the WRC wants him.
Voting for the inaugural WRC.com Personality of the Year starts on Friday. Return to WRC.com soon to find out who our panel of experts have nominated as the next contender for the coveted prize.
Source: WRC
