The Finn has yet to formally announce a programme for 2011 but his management team say that they are confident he will be out on the majority of the rallies this year, at the wheel of a Citroën DS3 WRC.Räikkönen has lodged an entry on this year’s World Championship under the ICE 1 Racing banner, and he is likely to compete on at least 10 of this year’s 13 rounds, with funding from private sponsors.
His manager Steve Robertson commented: “Kimi will definitely be out racing this year. The stories that say he won’t be doing anything are very much wide of the mark. But with his limited experience, it may be better for him to do some additional testing while the others are competing.”
In order to contain costs, Räikkönen is likely to give the long-haul events that are not likely to form part of the World Rally Championship in future a miss this year. While the Finn is not ruling out a return to Formula One in 2012 he admitted that it would be much harder to return to Grand Prix racing after taking two years off.
“It’s not impossible, but it certainly makes it harder to go back, the longer you leave it,” said Räikkönen. “If I missed Formula One I would have gone back, but in fact I haven’t missed it at all.”
Rally Sweden, which opens this World Rally Championship from 11-13 February, will mark the first time that Räikkönen takes part on an event in a factory World Rally Car for the second time.
Source: WRC
Courtesy: momo
