Kimi Räikkönen made hundreds of laps on Gresham's oval track on both Monday and Tuesday. The 800 meter lap is over in 20 seconds.
Räikkönen has trained with NASCAR-serie's World Camping Truck Toyota car that he leased from the leading Kyle Busch Motorsports -team. Busch himself rushed from the weekend's NASCAR-races to follow and guide Räikkönen's test at the place.
According to information Turun Sanomat has, Räikkönen's test was successful and the rookie enjoyed the driving to the fullest.
Gresham's track was reserved for a private test so they didn't let any outsiders in. They have promised a press release on Wednesday morning about Räikkönen's test-feelings.
Busch believes rally will help
Busch believes that Räikkönen's rally experiences are an advantage in this new challenge.
– I'm sure it is helpful now that he is used to downforce-power and the grip changing all the time. Sometimes you fly in the air. Kimi has been in both of these worlds and NASCAR has the best parts of both F1- and rally-driving.
– Our cars have a lot of downforce but still the cars slide and slide all the time everywhere. You just have to understand how to cope best with it, Busch said in a recent interview after the NASCAR-race.
So far Räikkönen has a contract about Charlotte's oval on 20th May in the truck-serie. Kyle Busch revealed that they have been negotiating about 3-5 races.
– Charlotte is a tricky place to start NASCAR-races – whether you drive truck, Nationwide or Sprint Cup. If Kimi manages to finish his debut with dry feet, then he can expect to get a position 15-20. That alone would already be a success. I try to help him the best I can, Busch told.
Turun Sanomat
HEIKKI KULTA
Courtesy: Nicole
