Kimi Raikkonen To Go To NASCAR
Former F1 star is heading for the oval (not the cricket ground)
Kimi Raikkonen has revealed that he is to have a crack at NASCAR racing this season.
According to the Turun Sanomat (that's a Finnish regional newspaper, by the way), Raikkonen will enter with the Truck Feeder series first (officially the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series) with his ICE1 Racing outfit, before moving up to the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series.
"I'm really looking forward to get there to familiarise to the world of NASCAR," Raikkonen told Turun Sanomat.
"I have been following it for a long time. I know, it's a very tough and open top racing series. I just love the American spirit of racing. It feels just great to get involved with that. Obviously, it will be very challenging and great fun for me."
Raikkonen is expected to hit the NASCAR circuit this summer, though exactly what car he will be driving is as yet unconfirmed.
And he's not stopping his rallying either: The 2007 F1 champ might have left single-seat racing at the end of 2009, but he's certainly not been taking it easy, competing last year in the WRC at the wheel of a Citroen C4. This year, despite his newly revealed NASCAR plans, he will compete in eight WRC events this year at the wheel of a Citroen DS3 WRC run by his ICE1 Racing team.
Perhaps PH should report a bit more about this racing sport.
It is very spectacular and very exciting.
You never really know who finally wins. It is very unpredictable.
Very different to boring F1 races.
The best of luck, Kimi ! I like his decision. Less politics, more racing.
Perhaps PH should report a bit more about it this racing sport.
It is very spectacular and very exciting.
You never really know who finally wins. It is very unpredictable.
Very different to boring F1 races.
Perhaps PH should report a bit more about it this racing sport.
It is very spectacular and very exciting.
You never really know who finally wins. It is very unpredictable.
Very different to boring F1 races.
Interesting news about Raikkonen, though the name he's been linked with doesn't have a very enviable reputation, being Foster Gillett, son of George.
WRC does leave quite a few empty weekends so perhaps Raikkonens keen to get back onto some tarmac, I wonder what JPM thinks of it all.
Like others i would say fair play to Kimi for giving it a go, in WRC he put his money on the line, and he seems to be improving there, there was a pretty obscure rumour about him going to Nascar in March 2010, if it was a wild guess it was a good one.
http://community.nascar.com/2011jeep/blog/2010/08/...
Ps: Love the 2 Nascar pics & the captions.
From Bloomberg.
Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One champion, is considering an offer to join a team in the Nascar auto-racing series, his agent David Robertson said.
Robertson declined to identify the team the 31-year-old Finn was talking to.
“Negotiations are ongoing but nothing is guaranteed,” Robertson said by telephone. “Somebody had come to us with an offer and we are considering it.”
Raikkonen is set to join a new team, ICE1 Racing, in the Truck series before moving to the Nationwide and Sprint Cup categories, Autosport.com reported, citing Finland’s Turun Sanomat newspaper.
I've never been able to make much sense of Nascar, If this does happen it might prove an incentive to take another look.
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