RED BULL ON STAGE - RALLY JAPAN, DAY 2.

Japan seems to love motorsport but hate horsepower. While Red Bull's Kimi Raikkonen and the other World Rally Championship competitors power down the stages in Hokkaido, many of the spectators watching them will drive home in cars that have about a sixth of the horsepower of Kimi's Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC

The Japanese 'kei car' regulations are designed to encourage mini cars to ease space on crowded roads by offering important tax advantages. It's no surprise that they have become incredibly popular, with nearly two million of them sold last year. At a maximum of 3.4 metres long, they are about a metre shorter than Kimi's rally car - but many of them also have four-wheel drive and turbochargers at their disposal, just like Kimi.

Mini cars have to make use of every bit of technology available to get the most out of their permitted 660cc engines. Luckily, Kimi had considerably more power at his disposal as he tackled the eight demanding stages that made up the second day of Rally Japan: only the ninth World Championship event of his brief career to date in the C4 WRC.

Having started the day in a point-scoring 10th place, Kimi made the most of the experience he had gained over the previous day to move up to eighth. For the flying Finn, it is all about gaining knowledge of some of the trickiest stages that he will face all year. Showing his consistency he set eighth-quickest time on all the stages today apart from one, where he was classified sixth.

"I'm pleased with the way that things have gone today, especially because the guys in front of me have really been pushing hard, if you look at the gaps at the top," said Kimi, the winner of the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix. "We've made no mistakes today and we've kept a consistent pace, which is the only way we are going to learn. My target before this rally was just to get to the finish and take away as much knowledge as I can, and so far I would say that we are on course to achieve this goal. The car has been really good today too: we were able just to concentrate on our driving and we learned a lot. Of course there is still some way to go, but if we can finish in this position tomorrow I will be quite happy."

Co-driver Kaj Lindstrom, who has been with Kimi ever since the former Grand Prix champion made his rally debut last year, added: "Today was actually much better than yesterday because we definitely benefited from the experience of driving on these roads after not being on gravel for more than a month. The gaps to the people in front of us have come down consistently, and that's what we're going to keep working on."

Kimi has steered clear of mistakes all day but tomorrow it will be even more important for him to have a clean run over the eight stages that remain, as there is no service halt in between them. It's a tough task that needs drivers to stay cool - so it's just as well that Kimi is the Iceman...

Source: RedBullrallye

RED BULL ON STAGE - WITH KIMI AS A WINNER...

Kimi Räikkönen Red Bull Rallye Deutschland day three report

After three tough days of the Rallye Deutschland, all the crews can sit back, relax, and enjoy a beer. Germany is the right place to do it: only the Czechs and the Irish drink more beer than the Germans.

Last year, the average German drank 115.8 litres of beer while the Finns, for example, could only manage 85 litres each. At the bottom of the list is India, whose inhabitants on average drink just 0.6 litres of beer over the course of one year.

If you look at average alcohol consumption, per head, all over the world though there is one clear winner - and that, surprisingly, is Luxembourg. Conveniently, the tiny state is located less than half an hour away from Trier, the home of the Rallye Deutschland, so everybody is assured of a good party tonight.

Kimi Raikkonen has plenty of other reasons to be cheerful, after claiming his first ever fastest stage time on the final stage of the rally. Kimi blasted through the 'Circus Maximus' superspecial stage faster than anyone else, in front of thousands of fans in Trier city centre. In the shadow of Roman remains where chariots once raced, Kimi showed that he is still king of the circuits.

Not only that but he enjoyed a solid run to seventh place and six points on only his second-ever WRC asphalt rally, having missed out on sixth by less than four seconds. Germany was no typical asphalt event either: the event contains three very different days, ranging from narrow and twisty vineyard roads to rough concrete tracks that were originally designed for testing tanks. Rather than getting a chance to consolidate his knowledge of all the different surfaces, "the Iceman" was constantly thrust from one new situation into the next. As usual though, he absorbed it with the coolness he has become famous for - despite having to contend with a dramatic lack of experience compared to all the other drivers.

For example, Sebastien Loeb has now won the Rallye Deutschland exactly the same number of times (eight) that Kimi has driven a Citroen C4 World Rally Car on a WRC event!

"It goes to show that experience is important," says Kimi. "But that's the objective for us this year: we want to build up the basic knowledge of how to be a rally driver. Some people might think it's easy to go from Formula One to an asphalt rally, but it's completely different: apart from maybe the superspecial stage, which is more like a racing track! The surfaces are changing all the time and that's one of the most difficult things to get used to, along with the pace notes and all the different corners. But generally it's been another very positive experience, and it was nice to win a stage as well."

Kimi's path wasn't entirely smooth: he had an overshoot this morning and found that the set-up wasn't perfect for his requirements. But the 2007 Formula One World Champion can be very pleased with his work at the end of the Rallye Deutschland as he avoided major mistakes and learnt several important lessons that will be crucial for the future.

Co-driver Kaj Lindstrom, who has been alongside Kimi since he made his rally debut last year, was also pleased by the progress that the duo made by improving their times consistently. "We are on the right road: with every rally we get better but we are climbing a very steep learning curve," he pointed out. "The pace notes we made here were really good: unfortunately we had a couple of small mistakes that cost us what would have been a comfortable sixth place, but it's just one of those things that comes with experience. For our first time here, we can definitely be happy - and we can also celebrate winning a stage."

So now the crew can take a well-earned beer. 'Prost!' as they say in Germany (and they don't mean the French racing driver)...

Source: RedBull Rallye

WRC New Zealand 2010 Final Stage

Source: YouTube - RallyMania

Rally of Turkey 2010: SS21 Deniz 2

Stage Times:

1.S. LOEB 9:48.8
2. M. HIRVONEN 9:53.8 +5.0
3.J. LATVALA 9:57.9 +4.1
4. P. SOLBERG 10:01.2 +3.3
5.S. OGIER 10:06.7 +5.5
6.H. SOLBERG 10:19.9 +13.2
7.K. BLOCK 10:24.7 +4.8
8. K. RAIKKONEN 10:28.1 +3.4
9.M. WILSON 10:32.4 +4.3
10.F. VILLAGRA 10:55.0 +22.6

Source: WRC

Rally of Turkey stage guides - Sunday

Day three in Turkey starts at 0757hrs, when the first car leaves the overnight parc ferme in Pendik. Ahead lie 114.60 competitive kilometres arranged over six special stages.

In the morning, crews will tackle a loop of three consecutive stages in the countryside east of the Service Park before heading back for a 30-minute midday service. In the afternoon crews will repeat the same loop before a 10-minute end of rally service and the finish podium in Pendik at 1611hrs.

Here are our wrc.com stage notes for Sunday's stages. Under the summaries you'll find our list of essential website links to help you follow the rally via the wrc.com live results service.

SS18/SS21: Deniz. 16.76km
Starts by a dam and runs largely through open countryside. The road is flowing and quite quick at the start, then becomes more twisty and technical in the mid-section. Deniz features lots of surface changes, from smooth gravel to rougher sections strewn with sharp rocks. The stage also features some stretches with a soil base. During the recce there were some dried ruts here. If it rains it will be muddy and extremely slippery on the hard-compound tyres.

SS19/SS22: Mudarli. 21.32km
A stage of two halves. the first part is twisty with many surfaces changes, from light to heavy gravel to clay. Then, from a hairpin-left at 12.7km, the stage becomes wider and more flowing on a harder packed gravel base. It’s very fast from here on. The stage won't clean much in the first half but will in the faster section. If it rains on Sunday then the soil base here will be just as muddy as Deniz.

SS20/SS23: Ballica. 19.22km
Another open road and another very fast stage, Ballica sweeps through a valley over numerous huge blind crests. It has a lot in common with Halli - run on Friday as SS4/SS8. Getting the right line over the crests is critical here - so accurate pace notes are essential. There's a two kilometre section of asphalt in the middle of the stage, other than that the surface is generally smoother gravel, so it will clean.

Source: WRC