Kimi Räikkönen is an inborn track-racer. That was once again proved to the whole motorsporting world when the F1-champion drove without practising his Nascar-debut in an oval race from start to finish without spinning even once during the battle.
Räikkönen will continue this new adventure next Saturday on this same Charlotte oval, but this time he will drive in Nascar's 2nd highest class Nationwide, where the powers and the drivability of the cars are something completely different than the truck-cars.
The feelings on Friday in Charlotte's track-area spoke for themself over how much the success meant for Räikkönen.
Usually you don't get Nascar-spurs in a jiffy, therefore Räikkönen's performance got the American experts to research the statistics to see how other rookies have started from truck-level.
Rookie-Räikkönen was the best of the three former F1-drivers after Nelson Piquet junior spun in the end and Max Papis crashed at an early stage.
The mechanics who took care of Räikkönen's Toyota Tundra got only speedy thanks from the driver. Räikkönen hit the wall twice but he avoided the spins, which are very common in the race.
– Kimi already left - and he was really happy, mechanics told me when searching for him.
Räikkönen was surrounded by the American media but when it was over he rushed with his trusteés to the pits where the tv was on showing San Jose's and Vancouver's hockey game.
Not normal track-racing
Räikkönen's body language spoke for itself. The man had fully enjoyed racing which ended after many phases in 15th position out of 36 drivers. At his best Räikkönen was 5th and at his lowest he was 34th.
Did the passion for track-racing come back?
– I have to say that it was really fun again. Of course this is different than what is understood by tracks. Here we drive much more closer than I'm used to. In F1 you rarely see several cars side by side, Räikkönen said.
A year ago in January Kimi Räikkönen drove rally in a WRC-car for the first time – and hit a tree during Tunturi-rally's second stage. The first race with a heavily steered Nascar-car was predicted to be as tough but still he drove without a care in the world all the 134 laps to the finish.
– It's much more difficult to start rally, Räikkönen reminded.
The safety car was sent to the track ten times all and all. It messed up all the drivers driving rhythm.
– The car started to work better the longer the stints were. It was just unfortunate that there were so many SC-incidents. After them it always took a while before the car worked as it was supposed to work. Had I got to make longer stints then the result would also have been better - and you always want to finish closer to the top.
Same brake every time
Räikkönen lost most oftenly his position especially in re-starts.
– The same car was ahead of me every single time. In re-starts it first accelerated and then braked. I couldn't get anywhere. I drove many times flat-out right into it so that it would go somewhere else, Räikkönen said.
– In the end a spin was close when I tried to overtake it and couldn't get past. I dared to go faster and faster all the time. It depends a lot on which side of the track you are - outside or inside. If you are on the inside and another one comes beside you then it can take off the air and you spin really easily.
How fast did you learn the game rules of a Nascar-race?
– It didn't take a long time. Of course it's easier the second time when you already know the rules beforehand.
New car, familiar track
Charlotte's organizers were shining out of happiness when it started to become certain that Räikkönen would drive again on Saturday on the same track in a Nationwide-race.
– A Nationwide-car has more powers and as far as I know it's better to drive. On this track it doesn't matter where you are when driving with another car.
– Of course it helps when you know the track although the car is different. It gives an advantage when you now know how you can make the re-starts in a better way. We had a good pace now too as long as I could drive a little longer, Räikkönen thanked.
Useless to try, Busch will win (in Finnish it rhimes: Turha koittaa, Busch voittaa)
Räikkönen's ICE1 Racing -team leased a Truck-car from Kyle Busch Motorsports and the same will happen with the Nationwide-car. Conveniently Busch had got himself an extra car just for Kimi's sake.
Kyle Busch won his third truck-race in a row. On top of that he starts from pole on Saturday night to hunt for the one million dollars jackpot in the all stars -race of Sprint Cup cars.
Turun Sanomat, Charlotte
HEIKKI KULTA
Courtesy: Nicole
