Kimi's Column: MORE THAN ENOUGH OF CHALLENGES

Kimi Jordan Rally preview in Finnish

Okay, so I went to drive a NASCAR-test. It was completely super awesome. That serie is a completely different world and everything is new for us who are used to drive elsewhere. It's interesting and challenging to go there.

But now we are driving rally again. It is after all 'our thing' at the moment.

Jordan is one of the most trickiest gravel rallies. We were here last year so we have some kind of understanding over what we can expect this weekend. So far being in the same rally for the second time has helped us and it's 100% sure that we have an advantage of it in Jordan too.

I have a pleasant image from Portugal's gravel. Once we recovered from *** No swearing *** up the setups - the whole front of the car was too high - the car felt good in the final games.

It's going to be exciting to see how it goes now. This rally is as challenging as challenging can be. The roads are hard gravel and loose sand. The weather is quite warm too. You don't seem to find any focusing points from the terrain. Fortunately I have learned to make and understand notes better and better all the time. They are really important in this rally.

They have warfare going on nearby but it's peaceful in Jordan. We all wish that the rally could be pulled through without any incidents.

Our goal is once again to get through the route without making any bad blunders. Last time we came in 8th in Jordan. They were our first points.

We are now going there to see if we can improve our position. It's going to be a tough twist since the group is so even at this point.

Source: KIMIRAIKKONEN.COM

Courtesy: Nicole

Pärmäkoski is Vettel's helper and doctor at the same time

Finnish trainer Tommi Pärmäkoski is tuning WDC Sebastian Vettel for the third year just like the German star tunes his own RB7-car. The demands grow year by year because the 23-year old German F1-star might want to drive until he is 40.

Is the trainer's job easier when he works with such a young man instead of lets say a 42-year old man like Vettel's former idol Michael Schumacher?

– I'm sure his youth is an advantage. I can put strain on Sebastian in a different way because a young person recovers much more faster and he can train in a different way. We can do everything more diversely and we don't have to think as much at the relation between recovering and training like the case with a more experienced man would be, Pärmäkoski says.

– In a way youth is an advantage but on the other hand it requires more work because the goal is to drive for a long time. That's why you have to proceed systematically.

Then what does a job as a WDC's physical trainer mean?

– It's a big unity. All the nutrition, food and liquids, rest and strain, all training, what we do and when we do it. I'm like a helper who at times runs with his hair standing up straight from one place to another.

– On the other hand I'm the person who Sebastian works with most closely. I'm sort of his mental support every moment. I'm also in charge of when we fly to the race locations, when we leave them and what we will do in the meantime. It's a big part of mental wellbeing.

Tough season educated even more

Pärmäkoski chews a while on the question if he is in his dream work.

– Of course this is a very interesting job. There are many kinds of sports and different kinds of sportsmen. I'm sure that I have time to experience something else too. At the moment I'm happy that I got a ride with the reigning WDC and got to see from close just how tough his mental state was in such tough places. I don't think many can say that they have watched on a daily basis from close how a championship like this has been won.

– Of course it requires a good car but when you have a good car all the other blocks also have to be in place in order to win.

How different is Vettel now mentally and physically?

– Last season was difficult and it educated him a lot. He had different troubles and different mistakes starting from crashing into his team mate. The championship really didn't come easily. If possible it strenghtens Sebastian mentally even more now that he knows he is good enough to win the championship.

– Physically I think that he is pretty much on the same level. We started training later because first he had to calm down and rest after different championship-festivities. When Bahrain was cancelled we got an extra time of two weeks that again was nothing but training.

Picked up more Finnish

Pärmäkoski and Vettel talk English with each other. Yet they haven't forgotten Finnish.

– He has picked up a few new words again, the trainer smiles.

Pärmäkoski has also cleared up how Vettel was able to ask in Finnish where his invitation to the castle is when he was interviewed right after becoming WDC.

– I asked about it and Sebastian had learned that word from me. Yet it came to his mind because Kimi Räikkönen had told him at one time that if you win the championship then you get an invitation to the castle. Yet it was unbelievable how he remembered it at that exact moment, Pärmäkoski laughs.

Turun Sanomat

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi Swedish Rally review in Finnish

It felt cool to get to drive again after a long time and it was great to get a feeling to the new car. It was an okay weekend. We didn't face any bigger griefs at any moment.

It looks like we are closer to the top. It's good since it means we have gone forward again. We do however know that we still have a lot to do.

We got to test the new car only for a day. Okay, the car felt good but when you have a race with difficult conditions right from the beginning, the start was only training for us. It was quite tricky when we spun and got a puncture just like that when driving in the track.

After that it started to go well. The driving was easy and the times came easily especially during the second round in the afternoon when I found a good laidbackness.

Of course we are still in the stage of learning. I have to pay even more attention to the notes. There weren't many corners that went wrong but there was a place that needed to be changed. If a situation like that comes up then it has always been tough to keep the car on the road. I just have to look more carefully at the notes in the future.

In Sweden our spinnings limited to that one spot on Friday. After that I didn't have to wipe sweat after the stage thinking "whew that we managed to finish it". I'm fairly satisfied when we got to drive a completely normal drive to the finish.

After the race you are always left with a feeling that it could have gone better. But it's cool when you have already learned something and improved from the earlier times.

Let's just now see how the continuance goes.

The result is okay. I got points home and good points for our team. The gang did a good job and the car felt nice to drive all the time. It's quick and a bit smaller than last year's car. It kind of suits me better.

It's good to start the new season from here. Next rally will then be in Portugal and before that we will go testing to see how the car behaves with gravel setups.

Source: KIMIRAIKKONEN.COM
Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi's new team a confirmation on Thursday

Kimi Räikkönen's own stables Ice1racing published on Thursday, motocross championship series of the Finnish team.

Raikkonen drive themselves Championship rallies Ice1racingin driver, and now the company to extend the two-wheel side.

Kawasaki bikes using Ice1racingin motocross team says more goals on Thursday.

Source: MTV3

Finnish fans shared Vettel's and Pärmäkoski's joy

Turun Sanomat 15.11 2010

The new Formula 1 champion Sebastien Vettel's Finnish personal trainer Tommy Pärmäkoski received immediately after the bull's eye in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as many as 120 congratulations to his cell phone - from friends and strangers.

- There is such a big bunch of congratulations that it tells F1 in Finland is still very popular, Pärmäkoski assured ouzing vitality although the Red Bull team had celebrated the title until four in the morning.

Pärmäkoski was mostly warmed by the congratulations his colleague Mark Arnall sent since he knew the trainer's feelings after helping Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen become world champions.

- Doesn't it feel good? It is a special feeling, Arnall reminded, and Pärmäkoski admitted that it was.

Pärmäkoski will stay in Abu Dhabi for this week because Vettel drives the Pirelli tyre tests both on Friday and Saturday. After that he heads home to Kuortane for a holiday. Vettel ends the season in the traditional Race of Champions that is held in the end of November in Düsseldorf. Vettel and Mark Webber have some promotional work first on Tuesday in Salzburg and then on Wednesday in Milton Keynes factory.

* Invitation to the Castle Kimi's vocabulary *

Vettel attracted attention in Finland because of the comment he gave in Finnish to MTV3:

- It was a good day. Where is my invitation to the castle? I'm almost a Finnish man.

How can a German athlete be aware of the world champions getting invitations to the castle in Finland?

- I guess it has stuck on Sebastian's mind from some chats with Kimi Räikkönen when Kimi went to that party. He doesn't understand Finnish but he pulls out those phrases fluently, Pärmäkoski explains.

Vettel brought up Räikkönen when he won the title. The contact between those two F1 world champions have however been less because they each have their own schedules and because the back pains that troubled Kimi during the rally season haven't given him a chance to play badminton or tennis with Vettel.

* Something in the throat, trash in the eye *

Vettel cried of happiness on the podium.

How did Pärmäkoski control his feelings since he has shared the ups and downs this season?

- I got something in the throat. After all a real man doesn't cry but I might have got some trash in the eye at that point.

- When you repress your feelings during the entire race you just get that drowsy feeling when winning. Just like you would have got your work done. I don't even know if you understand anything else except that you have been working like a dog for this and now it's there.

Vettel praised the help of Pärmäkoski and his family during his way to the championship. The Finnish trainer also knows Vettel's family very closely.

- It's amazing how you learn to know another human being in this way when we're together 300 days a year, see places, different people and learn to know with whom Sebastian feels at peace and with whom he doesn't.

* You have to know how to read athletes *

Pärmäkoski played ice hockey as a goalkeeper. How different is it to win as a trainer?

- Very different of course when you have a different trainer and a different athlete. This is one kind of a game. You have to be able to control yourself and read the athlete. It would have been useless to encourage Sebastian very much before the final race. I just had to try and calm him down and keep him totally on the ground.

- A trainer has to have a psychological eye so that he can see the overall picture and act accordingly, Pärmäkoski says.

Turun Sanomat, Abu Dhabi

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi German Rally preview in Finnish: A CONCRETE RIDE

I know the team hopes that we could make it through German Rally without mistakes. It's the season's second tarmac rally and our ride should be enough for us to reach quite good results.

I had drove in Jyskälä once before. From now on this season's remaining rallies are all completely new places to me.

Even though Germany is once again a completely new rally for me it still feels cool to get back on tarmac. Bulgaria was mostly promising but it doesn't help one bit now. This is a completely different rally. In Germany they drive a lot on concrete instead of on tarmac and from what I've heard it's a damn slippery road.

There's been talk about the notes every time, about how important they are and how difficult it is to learn them. I don't need anyone highlighting to me how noting would has to succeed really well in this rally and how I have to be extra careful with it.

I'm sure that the really long stage that I haven't drove with a rally car ever before is going to be pretty cool. It's about 50 km long and when you take the stages twice it will be an enormous amount of all the SS-kilometers.

It might get quite hot inside the cockpit and you know that the experience the top dudes have will only shine through better than before.

It's a clear thing that it is a place where it's important to drive without making mistakes. You can win or lose really big time.

We tested a couple of times in Germany. The car worked, everything went well and we found new setups again.

From the formula-times Germany isn't a place for me that I would like to remember. Something always went wrong.

Now we take off with a rally car and without those strains. The most important thing is to drive the race from the beginning to the end in a clean way. That is my number one wish and it's great if it happens. We need badly more kilometers in our meter so that we can get more experience which is what we need the most at this stage. After Jyskälä we had time to chill out. We rode trial, played golf and trained every day.

Now we are ready. We will see on Sunday how it went for us.

Source: Kimiraikkonen.com
Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi's mid-term report

Now that the World Rally Championship season is more than halfway over, we caught up with Finnish star Kimi Raikkonen to see how he rates his progress up to now…

What do you think of your results so far this year?
“I’d say that our results are what we expected; or maybe slightly better than we expected. When we came into this year, we knew that it was not going to be easy and it would take us some time to adapt and of course this has been the case.

If you consider that everyone else has got so much more experience than us and we had not even done five rallies before the start of the year, it’s not too bad.

Sweden was a tricky event for us to start the year with as the grip kept on changing but then we found it a bit more normal on gravel in Mexico. Jordan was a really tricky rally but we were very pleased to take our first points, and then we had Turkey where we finished fifth, which was a great result.

After Turkey we missed Rally New Zealand and then we had Portugal, which was difficult for us because it took a little bit of time to get into the rhythm again. When we went to Bulgaria I had a good feeling on asphalt and if we had not had an accident, then I think we could have been in the top five.”

How about Finland?
“Actually, Finland was the same sort of story as Bulgaria: some good bits and some bad bits. But it would have been top eight and not top five.”

So how many marks would you give yourself out of 10?
“I’m not sure: I would say maybe five? Because some bits have been good and some other bits have been not so good but in the end it was all more or less what I was expecting. OK, maybe we have done a bit better than I was expecting, so I could give myself five and a half or six?”

Making pace notes has been a big challenge. How is that going?
“That’s probably one of the hardest things for me. Even when I was in Formula One I never really liked it when engineers were talking to me over the radio when I was driving the car in the circuit. Now though it is part of the job. There is probably more speed to come from me through improving the pace notes than there is in any other area.”

Rallying is a slightly mad sport. Does it ever scare you?
“No, there is nothing that I am scared of in a rally car: it is just a very different style of driving. In the end you have to trust your co-driver and your pace notes because this is part of the skill of rallying.

Having said that, when you go off on a circuit, you normally go off into a gravel trap or a tyre wall. When you go off in rallying there are trees. There is no room for mistakes, and although I am making a few all the time, this is one of the things that attracts me to rallying. If it was easy, then everybody would do it.”

Have your targets changed at all this year?
“No, not really. I just want to gradually improve and learn everything you need to succeed in rallying. It’s unrealistic to expect much more in your first year as rallying is all about experience.

The chances are that I’m not going to be able to win anything this year but if I could have one or two more results in the top five then that would be really good. But I think it’s going to be tough…”

Source: RedBull
Courtesy: Kriss

Kimi's column: TO THE HOME RACE IN FIRST CLASS

Kimi Finnish Rally preview in Finnish

I've been waiting for this for so long when being in motorsport and now I finally get to drive for the first time in the very first class a World Championship-race in Finland. We drove in Jyväskylä with Kaitsu last year already but you can't compare it to this. This WRC-car is a completely different machine than the 2000 was a year ago. The speeds a insanely much harder.

In F1 somewhere in Hungary the benches were filled with Finland's flags but it's completely different to drive a real home race. We are in high feelings when there are lots of people coming to the jubilee-rally and all of us Finnish drivers will get a lot of support alongside the route.

This is my highlight of the season. A home race still means the most for every driver.

It was a little helpful that we have already drove through the route. The basics are done.

Pace noting has started to go better all the time.

Oh well, we didn't finish the rally last time because of that tiny screw-up on Saturday night during the last stage in Väärinmaja. This time the same spot won't be lurking. Now I have that sort of a machine that goes a lot faster.

I just have to be really sharp so that the car stays on the road.

We got a really good testing under the belt again. Everything worked insanely well and we got the car better. I dig these roads. This is now the 7th WRC-rally this year and after so many starts it becomes all the time more easier to understand how to work on the car.

It's way more cooler to jump in the cabin and start pushing the home race when I have chances to drive faster than last year. It won't yet change the fact that even though we go faster, the dudes in the front go insanely fast when compared to others.

We are again going to follow the same scheme. For us the most important thing is that we finish the rally. That's the only way to score points and we want them. It's completely realistic to be in positions 5-10 with an even performance provided we don't screw up. It's a good goal.

Kankkunen's Juha is making a comeback and it's really interesting to see what his pace is. He has drove Jyskälä 20 times so nothing there will suprise him in any way. Welcome back!

Source: kimiraikkonen.com
Courtesy: Nicole

RallySprint: KIMI ENCHANTS

On the tarmac of the Lanterna the Finnish showed he is on the right track

Maybe this time here we are at last. After six months of full immersion in his new world, Kimi Räikkönen is on the right track to become a rally driver. And maybe he has found the right way in Italy, in Liguria, where he fought well against a driver of the Ogier’s caliber. Without forgetting the stars of the Tarmac Trophy. Different trajectories almost from all the others, “track lines ” we could say, Räikkönen at the Lanterna has finally put together the pieces of his personal jigsaw puzzle. At least about the tarmac, that was a new ground for him in rallies and with a WRC car. The only experience he had in the past was the Marca, last year, with just few stages before losing a wheel from his Grande Punto Abarth S2000. In these conditions, after he tested his C4 WRC during the shakedown only, the Finnish has immediately kept as the same pace as that of more experienced people than him. And this in a difficult situation, where the ground of the first three stages kept changing almost at every curve, because of the intermittent rain.

A Räikkönen finally at his ease in that sport he loves and for which he left the F1 that he didn’t love anymore. A pluky Räikkönen, who in the longest stage of 27 km, in the first run made crazy the brakes, while in the second run he almost destroyed the front left wheel and the rear right one during the “cuts”, trying to gain tenths and to keep behind Ogier. “We tried, but it was not possible” says the peaceful Kaj Lindström, the factotum co-driver who cares about Kimi as a brooding hen with its chicks. Ok, it didn’t succeed, but the exploit will remain.

Always under examination

“This is just the twelveth rally of my life” Kimi was telling exactly before the race with a little shyness, even modesty, but not to find justifications. Or maybe yes. Behind that mask apparently impenetrable, probably “Eyes of Ice “ Kimi must not often have been comfortable this year. Every time he had to face a new examination and just seldom he has obtained a pass mark. It wasn’t easy. No-one before him has ever faced the leap from F1 to rally so suddenly and at a so high level. Going, almost without net, to challenge against people like Loeb and friends, who know by heart the stages of the championship and who know how to prepare the right setup of the WRC car, is not easy at all. Neither is it for a F1 world champion. It even seems a presumptuous thing. And maybe it is a little. But the Räikkönen’s approach at the new sport was not presumptuous at all, on the contrary, it happened with humility. You have never seen a F1 champion or of another sport, leaving everything and beginning all over again, at the not so young age (for this sport) of 30. Kimi has begun in rallies when the others have reached the success and they are already thinking to stop. ...

All and now for Kimi.

Much more softer was the apprenticeship of Robert Kubica, the other F1 driver who loves rallies. The Polish races every time he can and always on the tarmac, at least so far. When he definitely moves to road races, he will be already a rally driver. Not Kimi. He didn’t give himself this time. He has wanted to try to do everything and immediatly, live. His balance sheet after six months is poor, but just because the target he chose was practically unattainable. In Sweden he was at his third race on ice, the second with a WRC car. He showed off himself in a festival of out of roads but he didn’t make big damages at the car and in those conditions is already something good. In Mexico he was at his debut on the gravel, with a top car, and he was going not bad at all. “He goes faster than music” they say in France when someone exaggerates and misses the beat. And Kimi in Mexico exaggerated, but simply because he wanted to go flat out. And we think it’s normal, for one whose job is to be a racing driver…

Then there was Jordan where he got his first points. But the eighth place obtained in the Middle East rally didn’t satisfy him, and he let us know making a gesture with his hand. Then, the first ray of light, the fifth place in Turkey. Always with a huge gap from the top (over 6 minutes) but in front of much more experienced drivers than him, like for example Matthew Wilson. Who is young, experienced, and with a top package. “In Turkey I liked myself” whispers Kimi with a thread of a voice. After he missed the New Zealand, that was not in his schedule, Räikkönen arrived in Portugal, where “I had more difficulties than I expected and I was not able to do anything good” Iceman explains.

Now the tarmac is coming.

And now, Bulgaria, the promising tarmac after the good race at Lanterna, then Finland where he has already raced with the S2000, going fast, then again tarmac in Germany, a technical and difficult race. They are three rallies where Kimi can do really good. Then we have the great final, with two races certainly difficult for him like Japan and Wales and two ones on tarmac like France and Spain, where he might give a blow from his paw again. At the end Kimi will decide what to do, if he continues in those rallies which he loves or not. “No pressure, I’m not in hurry to decide”, he whispers.

Source: Rally Sprint

Courtesy: _TaniaS_

VETTEL IS A FINNISH F1-AMBASSADOR

Exclusive interview with Sebastian Vettel

I am what I am, Tamara Lund sang in a memorable way. I do what I do, F1-star Sebastian Vettel said with the same kind of attitude when he summed up his collision in the last race.

Vettel wants to live in the moment, not in the past. That's why the 22-year old German star wanted to talk about something else than about Turkey GP to the media.

Vettel says hello to the Finnish reporter, asks how I'm doing and even tells how he is doing in the same language.

How do you explain that you speak much more Finnish than Nico Rosberg?

– I don't know. Finns usually don't talk much. Nico's dad is a Finn but I think that Keke hasn't talked too much Finnish with his son. His mother is German and women talk more than men, maybe that's the reason why Nico's language is German instead of Finnish, Vettel thinks.

– But your language is terribly hard to learn. Even though one doesn't speak Spanish, French or even Swedish, one gets a hang of it and gets if the speaker is serious, happy or sad.

– You can't figure that out from a Finn. Firstly I don't understand the language at all and secondly it has no feelings so you don't know if the speaker is happy or sad. It's like a code that only those five million Finns understand, Vettel said.

Sometime ago Vettel was asked about his relationship to other F1-drivers. He said then that his best friend is Kimi Räikkönen, who isn't in F1 anymore.

Can you imagine Kimi coming back to F1?

– You should ask that from Kimi himself. Kimi is a straightforward dude who does what he wants to do. You have to respect that. Maybe Kimi didn't like this business anymore, quit and is now doing something else. If he someday starts to like this again he can come back if he is offered an opportunity.

– Kimi can enjoy his life, he does one thing at a time and doesn't plan his life five years ahead. Let's see if we will see him here someday again, Vettel thinks.

Robert Kubica is also very excited about rally. In Thursday's press conference some drivers were longing to take part in Le Mans someday.

– We have to remember that WRC and Le Mans are both motorsports so they aren't completely doing something else. Kimi is now in rally, Robert has tried it and is very excited about it. We all love motorsport from our heart and that's why we drive here. We all have it in our blood.

– Everybody wants to enjoy whatever they do. If you don't enjoy it, then it's time to quit. You should be honest enough to yourself and do other things if you no longer enjoy what you are doing - just like Kimi.

-He is now happy in rally. He had b*** to do a switch like that. Of course it's difficult but there's no doubt about his talents in rally because otherwise he wouldn't be able to stay on the road at all with those cars, Vettel says.

Vettel hasn't had time for ages to challenge Räikkönen in badminton.

– Let's say that Kimi is strong in that game but I have improved during this interval.

Vettel left Turkey more gloomier than usual with his father Norbert and his personal trainer Tommi Pärmäkoski.

How much have you changed since your first F1-race?

– Deep down I believe that I'm still the same guy I was three years ago, but I've learned a lot and have become more stronger. Life is about learning all the time and gathering experience - both good and bad. That kind of growth is natural.

Do you suffer from publicity? Can you do all things you want to do?

– When you drive on F1-level you are bound to become more known due to success. It's part of this job. You learn all the time how to cope with the publicity

- what you can do, what you can't do, what you can say, what you can't say. It's natural and it doesn't feel like you can't breathe.

– When I spend time with my family or friends I do all normal things like people my age do.Vettel came to the interview with a thick beard stubble.

Has the play off -season already started?

– No. I will shave before practice, Vettel smiled.

If Vettel wins the WDC, he will be the all time youngest one winning it.

– My goal is the championship. That is most important, not whether I'm the youngest one.

If that would happen then I would enjoy it sometime later when I'm old and fat, not while I'm still driving, Vettel said.

HEIKKI KULTA

Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Nicole

KIMI INTERESTS

We asked on the internet who is the most interesting Finnish motorsportsman at the moment.

Kimi Räikkönen grabbed the victory and 29% of VM-readers is following his rally business.

Mikko Hirvonen's ride with WRC-Ford has taken him to WRC-victories but in this poll Hirvonen took silver with 26% of the votes.

Mika Kallio's opening race in MotoGP went to the bushes but readers are interested in Kallio: 14% of the readers said Kallio was the most interesting Finnish motorsport-person at the moment.

Juho Hänninen in Rally IRC also got a good amount of votes, 8%, but Lotus F1-driver Heikki Kovalainen didn't get one single vote which was the super-surprise of this poll.

Kimi Räikkönen 29 %

Mikko Hirvonen 26 %

Mika Kallio 13 %

Heikki Kovalainen 0 %

Source: Vauhdin Maailma
Courtesy: Nicole

FANTASTIC, KIMI!

by Marcus Grönholm

Here we go again.

Let's catch Kimi Räikkönen first, he was definitely the biggest Finnish name in Turkey Rally.

Success in the WRC-serie doesn't come at once - not even if you would have won everything possible in the lower series. Not to talk about how difficult succeeding is for a driver who hasn't rallied before. Kimi's 5th position in Turkey was a really tough achievement, for real.

Okay, over five minutes to the lead but let's forget about the minutes. The most important was the position. Now Kimi has found the real deal, now he had the touch. Great.

5th position gave Kimi credability and selfconfidence which will take him further again. Turkey rally proved that he is on the right road. The journey to the top has began.

Kimi has improved in listening to the notes and he has also learned to know better his Citroen. That's why he has the guts to put the foot on the pedal more down.

In the future the most important thing for him is to have the calmness to learn. He has to have the energy to constantly battle so that he grows into succes in rally too. The time for winning, which he got used to in F1, comes later.

Apart from that nothing new and wondrous happened in Turkey. The rally was won by - surprise, surprise - Sebastien Loeb, has anyone ever heard of the man? Oh well, it looks like it's going to be this again from race to race. Citroen and Loeb leading while the others whine.

There hasn't been any real battle for victory. When it was time for it Loeb came in his own pace and made winning look ridiculously easy. Unbelievable.

Mikko Hirvonen came with his Ford in a pace that was okay but I'm sure he is still gutted over hitting a stone. Of course the battle hasn't been decided yet but in the next races Mikko's difference in points to Loeb shouldn't grow over 40. Otherwise the battle will calm down remarkably and then nobody has the energy to get excited about the races.

But it's good that Mikko is attacking by taking risks and that he went flat out for the victory. I myself am of this opinion because during my own career I found the optimal driving style through numerous drivings off the road. But that's how it is, Loeb is conquered only by taking risks, you won't win him otherwise. And because you get 25 points for each victory the importance of winning is big.

I'm sure Malcom Wilson from Ford wasn't satisfied when Jari-Matti Latvala rolled. Okay, same as with Mikko, these things happen sometimes when you drive on the limit. One has to remember that Jari-Matti has drove three even races before this.

Wilson must be gutted over Citroen being on top again when it comes to the manufacturer-battle. The French team has now four competitive cars and drivers, Ford has only two.

Ford has to show what they are made of in the next races. The current level isn't enough.

Source: Iltalehti.fi
Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi Turkish Rally preview in Finnish: ATTENTIVELY TO TURKEY (TARKKANA TURKKIIN)

I have nice memories from races in Turkey. I won the first race in Istanbul and in any case I always digged the track. But now it's a different car, different serie, different joint and completely different systems.

This rally is new to everyone. I might get some marginal advantage because of that as long as I'm real fast in learning.

We have a good rally from Jordan under our belt. The goals were fulfilled and now we try to make the whole weekend a little more better again. Hopefully we will quickly catch on so that we can start fighting more even with the others.

I don't have any other goal than to finish, finish, finish. If we get through it on Sunday we can look how far it took us.

I have to be attentive all the time. They have promised wet road conditions and if the route is really wet then it's really slippery out there. Then you have to drive even more attentively than before.

This is now the first time when we drive on both gravel and tarmac. The tarmac-part is the last new element that we haven't drove, not even once. It's interesting to see how this car goes on tarmac.

It was cool when we got the first points in Jordan. It was a bad spot, as a race it was as difficult as difficult can be so at that spot the four points felt really good. My self-confidence grew and we learned more about how we get results only by an attentive drive and careful noting.

Of course the hunger grows bigger and you expect more points but first we have to see how tough challenges Istanbul sets for us. It's the pleasure I like about rally when it's so different every time.

I'm sure that some local celebrities go fast at first. I just have to control myself and wait until I find a good rhythm. I have to stay on the road. From that it all goes forward again. The beginning of the season has taught me that I just have to move along humbly.

But I can promise you that we will fight with all we've got and we want to experience those good feelings again just like we did at the finish line after the last race.

Source: KIMIRÄIKKÖNEN.COM
Courtesy: Nicole

RÄIKKÖNEN MADE FINNISH MOTORSPORT HISTORY!

Kimi Räikkönen wrote his name in the historybooks after his 8th position in Jordan Rally.

On saturday Räikkönen became the first Finnish racer who has scored championship-points in both WRC and F1.

The value of his performance is highlighted by the fact that no other foreign racer has been able to achieve the same except Carlos Reutemann from Argentina in the beginning of the 80's.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Nicole

IN ONE PIECE TO THE FINISH LINE

Kimi Swedish rally review in Finnish

The first 'äm-äm' with a WRC-car is now wrapped. The positive thing was that we got in one piece to the finish line.

I could have lived without making a few stupid mistakes. This is how it went, if the car goes off the track you hit immediately soft snow and you spin. There was snow everywhere. Because we couldn't see out at all we hit the snowbank - and got stuck in it.

It meant a shovel-job. You have to dig. It's normal and it's part of rallying. We know afterall that even those who now drive in the lead have also had to do some shoveling at some stage. I don't think Sibelius started with composing Finlandia right away.

All and all Sweden was an interesting weekend. Okay, maybe I didn't have any expectations but the pressure was hard when we took off. It was a bit difficult but it's good that it's now behind.

Every race is important at this stage. The more I get to drive this car the better I become. It already started to feel like it fit my hand better.

It relaxed after that. Because we drove the same stages twice it was already a bit easier to remember them.

Because we had problems in the beginning we decided that we don't even start to look for setups. We just took Loeb's setups and learned to drive with them. We concentrated on basic driving at this point and on staying on the road.

By doing that we got used to what the car does. Now it did this. When you know next time better what it does you can also ask more from the car.

Of course driving out is always frustrating. You just had to pick up yourself again and again. It's the same at the track too. Racing is never so easy that you just show up, jump in the car and start winning.

It was cool when a few stages went okay. The notes are decisive. When the note is completely right it's completely different to drive fast than if it's even a bit wrong. There was a few spots where my notes didn't hit at all.

I told already beforehand that starting the serie on Sweden's snow is probably the most difficult place of all places. I haven't drove this car flat out with other chassis but I guess that it won't be more difficult when we go on gravel.

If we are in rally next year I bet that we will go completely differently in Sweden. Now we concentrate on the next race - Mexico and gravel.

We will have time to drive one test with Kaitsu in France before we go there far away. After that it will be Viva la Mexico. It's going to be cool to see Kaitsu with a sombrero...

Source: kimiraikkonen.com
Courtesy: Nicole @OF

ONE EXPERIENCE RICHER

Kimi Arctic Lapland Rally review in Finnish

The Arctic rally came and went. I'm in a good mood and one experience richer.

We had a good test before we went to Rovaniemi. It gave me a good feeling and more trust in the car once we got all bits and pieces and seats in order. The basic setup was done and we went to Tunturi to get as many kilometers under our belts as we could possibly get. Nothing more.

It was good that Sordo was there. We got the benchmark we had hoped for so we would know exactly where we stand at the moment.

In the final games we saw how much behind Sordo we were but after we reeled in those things we also knew the reason for it. All we now need is more kilometers and we'll find it from there.

There was this one blunder when we drove out during the second stage. It was completely my own blunder. I misheard the note and after that it didn't bend back anymore.

Fortunately we made it with small damages and managed to get back. Thank you to the shovel-men for helping.

The roads were quite cool! It was also nice to see how big the gangs by the routes supporting us were.

When me-myself have only five rallies in the meter the times in Tunturi weren't a catastrophy. When I learn something new everytime I drive we get closer to the lead. We'll see how close we are during the midseason.

From this basis it's nice to go to Sweden. We'll see there what our pace is but the serie is only beginning. At least we will go faster than we did in the practice race.

Just as a tip, remember to check out the video clips beside. They are rolling the Iceman's adventures in Lapland and we are reeling in how things went in Tunturi.

Next stop is the FIA-info in Paris, press and photos. After that we will only concentrate on Sweden rally.

There it will be just like in Indy - Gentlemen, start your engines!

Source: kimiraikkonen.com
Courtesy: Nicole Planet-F1

Finnish telecommunications company in support of Räikkönen

Finnish telecoms operator DNA has begun to cooperate with the Formula One World Rally Championship with Kimi Räikkönen shifted.

DNA and Räikkönen's contract covers the current period. Telecommunication Company sponsored driver, which in turn serves the company's marketing façade.

Räikkönen's DNA was involved in support of his troops boarding a Formula One Championship ones-Sauber driver.

Source: MTV3 and luieluv Planet-F1