Monday 20th September 2010

Kimi Finn-ally Wins A Rally

Rapid Raikkonen takes first overall rally victory - but not in a WRC event

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Kimi Raikkonen has finally finished first in a rally, presumably finally permitting the Finn to hold his head up high in his home country, where rallying is venerated even above Vodka.

Despite showing plenty of pace, the former F1 champ has yet to win a WRC round - and his duck is still unbroken, as victory has come for him in the six-stage Rally Vosgien, part of the French National Championship.

Kimi, driving his usual WRC Citroen C4, beat second-placed Quentin Gilbert by more than three minutes.

That's not quite as impressive as it sounds, mind; Gilbert's steed was a 2wd Renault Clio Maxi, hardly a straight fight.

To be fair to Raikkonen, the rally was actually more of a test for the Strasbourg-based Rally of France, as the Citroen Junior team has used up all of its official test days for the season.

"This was a good preparation for the Rally of France," Raikkonen told Autosport. "From what I am told, the roads on this event were fairly representative of what we will see on the next WRC round, so I am happy. It's also good to get back into driving the car on asphalt - that's very useful as well."

[RB Will]

Bloody trophy hunter

[scubadude]

Rumour is he was told the power at the motorhome failed so he was rushing back to get save his Ice Creams from melting....

[Denorth]

Being Kimi's long-term fan it's nice to see him practicing between WRC events. Considering that it is his first year in Rally (not just WRC, but at all) he is doing well - finishing in top 10 (unless he is crashing out , which he does not that much often than some of the long-term rally drivers)

And one more thing - he is not the only one Citroen driver who participates in non-WRC events during a year.

[Podie]

Denorth said:

Being Kimi's long-term fan...

Oh, so you're his fan. I knew there was one.

[Ollieb7]

Podie said:

Denorth said:

Being Kimi's long-term fan...

Oh, so you're his fan. I knew there was one.

Please explain - where's the 'spark' that gets you going???

[dvance]

Ollieb7 said:

Podie said:

Denorth said:

Being Kimi's long-term fan...

Oh, so you're his fan. I knew there was one.

Please explain - where's the 'spark' that gets you going???

It's more of a cold chill in the middle of the night

[Podie]

Ollieb7 said:

Podie said:

Denorth said:

Being Kimi's long-term fan...

Oh, so you're his fan. I knew there was one.

Please explain - where's the 'spark' that gets you going???

Should have been a smiley at the end of that...


I think the man has the wrong attitude TBH. I read an interview with Kimi, where they asked him about his training and routine. His response was he trains when he feels like it, and gets up when he can be bothered. Contrast that to Button who works at it...

Edited by Podie on Monday 20th September 11:20

[Denorth]

Podie said:

Ollieb7 said:

Podie said:

Denorth said:

Being Kimi's long-term fan...

Oh, so you're his fan. I knew there was one.

Please explain - where's the 'spark' that gets you going???

Should have been a smiley at the end of that...


I think the man has the wrong attitude TBH. I read an interview with Kimi, where they asked him about his training and routine. His response was he trains when he feels like it, and gets up when he can be bothered. Contrast that to Button who works at it...

Edited by Podie on Monday 20th September 11:20

I would say it is a pretty good attitude
http://www.wideo.fr/video/iLyROoaftQFc.html

speaking of training:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ylRVtZ6Ilw

EDIT: not trying to say anything against Button, whom I respect a lot

Edited by Denorth on Monday 20th September 11:29

[TXWRX]

"Despite showing plenty of pace"

When has he done that? one SS win at the end of a rally round a town centre, lots of off's and competing with Matthew Wilson for honours, i can't believe he expected to be as far off the top guys as he is at this stage

[moribund]

Honest question, why do you think that? Rally is very different to F1. Not something you pick up in one event, or one season.

[VladD]

Ollieb7 said:

Podie said:

Denorth said:

Being Kimi's long-term fan...

Oh, so you're his fan. I knew there was one.

Please explain - where's the 'spark' that gets you going???

He kicked the cheating Kraut out of Ferrari and I'll be forever grateful to him for that.

[Muzzer]

TXWRX said:

"Despite showing plenty of pace"

When has he done that? one SS win at the end of a rally round a town centre, lots of off's and competing with Matthew Wilson for honours, i can't believe he expected to be as far off the top guys as he is at this stage

I'm no massive fan of his, but to be fair he's done quite well.

To top 10 or thereabouts, after a handful of rallies in your entire life, is quite good.

Don't forget the guys he's competing against have been doing this since they were in short trousers. Kimi's been doing circuit racing which is very, very different.

You don't just jump into a WRC car and start winning in your first season.

[Nicol@]

Muzzer said:

I'm no massive fan of his, but to be fair he's done quite well.

Agreed. He just needs to cut done on the crashes (as per Latvala).

Plus he no longer has the iceman stare.

[Denorth]

TXWRX said:

"Despite showing plenty of pace"

When has he done that? one SS win at the end of a rally round a town centre, lots of off's and competing with Matthew Wilson for honours, i can't believe he expected to be as far off the top guys as he is at this stage

sorry, but you don't really follow WRC, do you?

[TXWRX]

yes i do, and i'm well aware of the difference between rallying and circuit racing, i just think he would have expected to score some better results/ times by now. To say he's been getting top ten finishes is fine, but who is he actually competing against and what are the time gaps within that top ten? wrc doesn't have the greatest strength in depth at the minute

[TXWRX]

Maybe a more interesting point is when would you guys expect him to show some real performance in the wrc, and by that i mean finishing within a couple of minutes of the leader and being able to battle towards 5th place on merit? I'm not exactly sure how many years Wilson jnr has been in the wrc now, but i remember when he started his dad talking about a long term project, but shouldn't he be getting somewhere by now? if kimi stays in wrc and is running at a similar level to now next year is that still reasonable? Can't help but wonder if his renewed interest in F1 has been brought on by the realisation of what he's tried to take on

[Denorth]

I would say 3rd year for real performance, but a good progress on his 2nd (to compete with Sordo and Latvala)

[Turbobanana]

Muzzer said:

TXWRX said:

"Despite showing plenty of pace"

When has he done that? one SS win at the end of a rally round a town centre, lots of off's and competing with Matthew Wilson for honours, i can't believe he expected to be as far
off the top guys as he is at this stage

I'm no massive fan of his, but to be fair he's done quite well.

To top 10 or thereabouts, after a handful of rallies in your entire life, is quite good.

Don't forget the guys he's competing against have been doing this since they were in short trousers. Kimi's
been doing circuit racing which is very, very different.

You don't just jump into a WRC car and start winning in your first
season.[/quote/]

He used to be a fast learner: IIRC, didn't he progress to F1 in only about his 20th car race (presumably after some karting experience)?

[Antj]

he's not that bad as he has had stage wins.

i wish he would come back to F1 as compared to alonso i love raikonnen, i would love to see ferrari take kimi back on to replace massa. Imagine alonso trying to tell kimi what to do.

my best memory of kimi's " i don't care attitude" was malaysia 2009 when the others sat on the grid waiting for the rain to stop and he was in shorts and t shirt eating a lolly.

[Denorth]

Turbobanana said:

Muzzer said:

TXWRX said:

"Despite showing plenty of pace"

When has he done that? one SS win at the end of a rally round a town centre, lots of off's and competing with Matthew Wilson for honours, i can't believe he expected to be as far
off the top guys as he is at this stage

I'm no massive fan of his, but to be fair he's done quite well.

To top 10 or thereabouts, after a handful of rallies in your entire life, is quite good.

Don't forget the guys he's competing against have been doing this since they were in short trousers. Kimi's
been doing circuit racing which is very, very different.

You don't just jump into a WRC car and start winning in your first
season.[/quote/]


He used to be a fast learner: IIRC, didn't he progress to F1 in only about his 20th car race (presumably after some karting experience)?

he is a fast learner - but in F1 and before it was 'don't talk to me in the middle of the corner' kind races (it was in Ferrari) and now it is driving by ears.

Edited by Denorth on Monday 20th September 21:51