By Janne Aittoniemi
This season will show if Kimi Räikkönen still has any real chances of rising up to the top in rally. The change of WRC-cars will help Räikkönen but how much?"Short right 2 and left 2 and left 4 right 6" Kaj Lindström had time to say before it crashed.
"Are you okay? How the fuck did it hit the edge?" Räikkönen wondered a moment later.
It was an embarrasing crash in Catalynia Rally's super stage in October. The Citroen that started falling from the inside ditch went in such a bad shape that the duo weren't able to start the rally at all.
I'm sure Kimi Räikkönen doesn't want the membership card to the Roof Club this season. Last season he made big driver mistakes and many of them were in the same class as blunders in the junior class. He drove out in easy and slow-paced places. Räikkönen's small experience in rally became clearly visible.
"In rally mistakes come easily. They are part of this sport. Let's hope that this second season will be a bit easier and we can improve in every department", Lindström says.
Räikkönen who founded a racing team called ICE1RACING is continuing his career in the wonderous world of rally and nothing bad with that. He doesn't miss back to F1 although he drove a Ferrari 16 months ago and made more money in F1 than any other driver has ever made.
There is still attraction in Räikkönen's persona although he has put himself in a situation where he has to rent a car from Citroen in order to be able to continue rallying on top level. No other team or sponsor will pay Räikkönen millions anymore but he is still a star driver everywhere he is known.
"Kimi's value to the WRC-serie is spectacular. He has brought the serie really much more publicity", WRC-rally commission's chairman Jarmo Mahonen reminds.
Yet old F1-merits won't carry Kimi further anymore. He can improve his situation in WRC only by driving.
"I believe that Kimi will rise closer to the top this year. If he doesn't then Kimi has some soul searching to do", Mahonen says.
The new kind of WRC-cars could in fact carry Räikkönen closer to the top. At least in theory the difference between Räikkönen and the lead should grow smaller due to the new cars, because Loeb, Hirvonen and many others had immensly more experience of the earlier WRC-cars.
Although the cars have changed, the same men from last year continue this year too. The new Dutch junior drivers Dennis Kuipers and Peter van Merksteijn should not pose any threat to Räikkönen. The Mini-men who come in the spring, Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo, are faster than Räikkönen but their car might be slow and unreliable at first. I'm sure Räikkönen can fight for the last points at least.
"It's pretty much the same gang as last year too. However Ford have some new drivers and I'm looking with interest at especially Mads Östbergs performances. He seems like a pretty fast guy", Lindström thinks.
Räikkönen and Lindström start this season without any goals for positions.
"It might be boring to say this again but I don't think we should put up any other goals than improving from last year. There's no reason to start building up pressure that there would be a certain position we would be trying to get from each rally", Lindström said.
Last year Räikkönen got his best position from Turkey where he came in 5th. There Räikkönen got to drive on smooth and natural roads which he likes really much. The curly stages clearly fits him much less.
Räikkönen gave flashes of his talents in for example Fredriksberg's stage in Sweden and Suwayma's stage in Jordania. Short stages on tarmac usually suited Räikkönen well. He set his only fastest stage time in Trier's city-stage in Germany but the other drivers were already taking it safe trying to secure their own position.
"We also got those clean performances after which we could say that this stage went just as it was supposed to go. I remember especially Fredriksberg's stage in Sweden. It was a very difficult stage and we will drive it this year too", Lindström tells.
"We often noticed with Kimi that a stage that was beforehand known as difficult went better than the easier stages. When the concentration stays on a good level in driving, Kimi's way to handle a car is good also on difficult stages."
It's great for Räikkönen's sake that he gets to work with the same engineers and mechanics from Citroen he worked with last year.
"We have the same package we had last year too. We get all the maintenance and service from Citroen the same way and the same dudes will circle around the car", Lindström tells.
"The latest information is that the race engineer will also be the same as last year and Benoit Nogier will continue to be our boss. As a matter of fact pretty much nothing changes except that we won't be racing under Citroen's Junior team, we race under our own team's name."
Taking away top technology from the cars might improve Kimi's chances.
"It could be a good thing for Kimi. We go a bit backwards technology-wise and go back to for example stick gears. However I have heard some rumours from Ford that the new cars would even be faster than the old cars", Lindström tells.
He also reminds that changing from Pirelli to Michelin is a big question mark.
"Nobody knows yet for certain how well Michelin's tyres endure in racing situations and how many punctures there will be. Let's hope that the thing doesn't turn into such that by driving in the middle of the road without a puncture you will get the best result."
Citroen has promised Räikkönen as many testing days as he has WRC-starts meaning 10-12. One testing day every now and then isn't quite enough. Räikkönen has achieved his current basic level mainly with his talent but from now on he gets upwards only by studying things hard and and training.
This was written just before Rally Sweden.
Courtesy: Nicole
