RE: Raikkonen Could Partner Block In 2011 WRC
Tuesday 2nd November 2010
Kimi could switch energy drinks next year..Kimi Raikkonen could partner Ken Block in the Monster World Rally Team next year, as the 2007 F1 champ looks around for options for 2011.
Raikkonen Could Partner Block In 2011 WRC
Kimi could join Kenny in 2011 as he looks for a rally seat - and rules out F1
Kimi could switch energy drinks next year..
One thing Raikkonen won't be doing next year is going back to F1. Kimi had been rumoured to be working on a deal with Renault - but that has been confirmed as dead by Raikkonen's manager, Steve Robertson.
"We're no longer looking at opportunities in F1," Robertson told Finnish television channel MTV3. "Kimi seems to be focused on rallying at the moment."
Block is said to be keen on getting Raikkonen on board - as the signing-up of a former F1 champ would bring great publicity for team sponsor Monster (the 'other' energy drinks supplier that backs motorsport) and would represent a bit of a coup, 'stealing' Raikkonen from rivals Red Bull.
But the Monster team is hardly the best-funded outfit in the WRC, and a decision on running a second car won't be made until early next year.
However, "nothing's been decided yet," says Robertson. "We'll let you know when there is something to say. At the moment nothing has been signed. We're talking to several teams."
Among the other possibilities for Raikkonen is a move to Mini, although that would only get him sporadic rallies and Raikkonen is keen to do a full season.
Raikkonen could also stay with the Citroen Junior WRC team, but word is that he would have to take a significant pay cut from the rumoured 5 million-pound deal that sponsors Red Bull had with the Finn for 2010.
And what about an eventual return to F1? "Never say never," says Robertson, "but right now our eye is not on F1."
Discussion
I dont mind the dude but he is not really that great behind the wheel of a WRC car and really does lack personality. I dont think anyone would miss him to be honest, although there would be far fewer crashes to watch. Teamed with Block, bloody hell, i hope Monster have deep pockets and plenty of spare parts!!!!!
So Monster are "stealing" him from Red Bull are they? Sounds like utter sensationalism to me, Red Bull don't want him, so no one is "stealing" him at all - poor journalism!
Monster might get Kimi on board to get some publicity, but they will never be a competitive team. It's just Ken Block's vanity project, paying his way into the sport on the back of his shoe company for some fun and publicity. Ken and Kimi are both terrible at rally driving. In Ken's case, his Gymkhana stunt driving has proved to be near useless as he is way off pace or crashing out in every race. Same story for Kimi, who was good in an F1 car but his heart is not in that any more, but is also a poor rally driver. I suppose as a Finn, he feels he should be a good rally driver, but he really isn't. His performances have been massively underwhelming, and like Block, he has only ever scored points in the WRC once, and iirc that was for an 8th place finish.
Even with the might of the Citroen rally team he couldn't be competitive and has embarressed them and wasted their money by proving an expensive mistake at nearly every oppertunity. His crash in the previous Spanish rally last month was no doubt utterly humiliating for him, and it came as no surprise to me when he said that Citroen were not giving him a new contract and he was hunting for a team. I suppose a rally driver of his calibre is really only fit for a bottom of the barrel team like Monster.
Monster might get Kimi on board to get some publicity, but they will never be a competitive team. It's just Ken Block's vanity project, paying his way into the sport on the back of his shoe company for some fun and publicity. Ken and Kimi are both terrible at rally driving. In Ken's case, his Gymkhana stunt driving has proved to be near useless as he is way off pace or crashing out in every race. Same story for Kimi, who was good in an F1 car but his heart is not in that any more, but is also a poor rally driver. I suppose as a Finn, he feels he should be a good rally driver, but he really isn't. His performances have been massively underwhelming, and like Block, he has only ever scored points in the WRC once, and iirc that was for an 8th place finish.
Even with the might of the Citroen rally team he couldn't be competitive and has embarressed them and wasted their money by proving an expensive mistake at nearly every oppertunity. His crash in the previous Spanish rally last month was no doubt utterly humiliating for him, and it came as no surprise to me when he said that Citroen were not giving him a new contract and he was hunting for a team. I suppose a rally driver of his calibre is really only fit for a bottom of the barrel team like Monster.
Mastodon2 said:
So Monster are "stealing" him from Red Bull are they? Sounds like utter sensationalism to me, Red Bull don't want him, so no one is "stealing" him at all - poor journalism!
Did you not spot the 'inverted commas' there? 
That's supposed to be a signal to the reader implying that we don't really mean what we're saying...And actually it sounds as if Red Bull will take him - but not at quite as much money... which is fairly normal in the top ranks of motorsport if you don't deliver the right results
Riggers said:
Mastodon2 said:
So Monster are "stealing" him from Red Bull are they? Sounds like utter sensationalism to me, Red Bull don't want him, so no one is "stealing" him at all - poor journalism!
Did you not spot the 'inverted commas' there? That's supposed to be a signal to the reader implying that we don't really mean what we're saying...And actually it sounds as if Red Bull will take him - but not at quite as much money... which is fairly normal in the top ranks of motorsport if you don't deliver the right results
Really Mastodon? How can you possibly say that Ken Block's overly scripted and much practiced gymkhana isn't the most awesome driving of any kind in the world? Have you not read the internets? If you watch it again, you will clealy see that cutting 20-30 attempts into one film is actually the most skillful sport ever, and makes Ari Vatanen's Climb Dance look lame in comparison - he doesn't even skid round a segway or anything.
Mastodon2 said:
Riggers said:
Mastodon2 said:
So Monster are "stealing" him from Red Bull are they? Sounds like utter sensationalism to me, Red Bull don't want him, so no one is "stealing" him at all - poor journalism!
Did you not spot the 'inverted commas' there? That's supposed to be a signal to the reader implying that we don't really mean what we're saying...And actually it sounds as if Red Bull will take him - but not at quite as much money... which is fairly normal in the top ranks of motorsport if you don't deliver the right results
Some Gump said:
Really Mastodon? How can you possibly say that Ken Block's overly scripted and much practiced gymkhana isn't the most awesome driving of any kind in the world? Have you not read the internets? If you watch it again, you will clealy see that cutting 20-30 attempts into one film is actually the most skillful sport ever, and makes Ari Vatanen's Climb Dance look lame in comparison - he doesn't even skid round a segway or anything.
Now this made me lol - the number of times I've heard "Ken Block is the best driver ever, have you seen his car control?" is ridiculous. Best driver ever? Really? Not Loeb or Senna then? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R7ws741KpE
When I think of people spouting this kind of nonsense I refer myself to this video, and imagine pigs flying when I think of Block even being able to drive half as fast as this.
This is way out of date - he will be in a DS3.
Rallying at this level is Sooo much harder than circuit racing (th ebest driver in the World is clearly Seb Loeb), with the loose / constantly changing surfacess and you REALLY need to have experience of the rally stages.
He will be alot better next year in a 1.6 Turbo with less Torque which needs a more attacking style, know many of the rallys and the new cars will be a big leveller.
He is almost on a par with the likes of Henning Solberg in year one and a million miles ahead of the Useless Matthew Wilson (christ someone tell his dad to stop wasting cash on him and get him building the cars not driving them - did anyone see Dave on the last rally where on just one corner he lost amost a second to Loeb (great analysis) - shows how out of his depth.
Kimi GREAT for WRC - I can see why F1 just rubbed him up the wrong way with the endless PR and burecracy!
Rallying at this level is Sooo much harder than circuit racing (th ebest driver in the World is clearly Seb Loeb), with the loose / constantly changing surfacess and you REALLY need to have experience of the rally stages.
He will be alot better next year in a 1.6 Turbo with less Torque which needs a more attacking style, know many of the rallys and the new cars will be a big leveller.
He is almost on a par with the likes of Henning Solberg in year one and a million miles ahead of the Useless Matthew Wilson (christ someone tell his dad to stop wasting cash on him and get him building the cars not driving them - did anyone see Dave on the last rally where on just one corner he lost amost a second to Loeb (great analysis) - shows how out of his depth.
Kimi GREAT for WRC - I can see why F1 just rubbed him up the wrong way with the endless PR and burecracy!
I do love the Ken Block vids, great fun, but he hasnt done himself any favours running with the real rally drivers where every mistake is punished hard. He has gone from what many considered to be a driving God to be a rather poor rally driver and with all his practice he really should be better!
He has tried his hand at some of the American rallies and had some big off's there too.
I think that anyone given a week or 2 in one of Blocks cars could copy one of his vids, im pretty sure i could.
He has tried his hand at some of the American rallies and had some big off's there too.
I think that anyone given a week or 2 in one of Blocks cars could copy one of his vids, im pretty sure i could.
jellison said:
He will be alot better next year in a 1.6 Turbo with less Torque which needs a more attacking style...
Dunno about that - when they changed from Group A to Group N in national championships down here the drivers had to adopt a smoother, less aggressive style to get the best from the lower powered cars.jellison said:
This is way out of date - he will be in a DS3.
Rallying at this level is Sooo much harder than circuit racing (th ebest driver in the World is clearly Seb Loeb), with the loose / constantly changing surfacess and you REALLY need to have experience of the rally stages.
He will be alot better next year in a 1.6 Turbo with less Torque which needs a more attacking style, know many of the rallys and the new cars will be a big leveller.
He is almost on a par with the likes of Henning Solberg in year one and a million miles ahead of the Useless Matthew Wilson (christ someone tell his dad to stop wasting cash on him and get him building the cars not driving them - did anyone see Dave on the last rally where on just one corner he lost amost a second to Loeb (great analysis) - shows how out of his depth.
Kimi GREAT for WRC - I can see why F1 just rubbed him up the wrong way with the endless PR and burecracy!
Exactly. Rallying at this level is Sooo much harder than circuit racing (th ebest driver in the World is clearly Seb Loeb), with the loose / constantly changing surfacess and you REALLY need to have experience of the rally stages.
He will be alot better next year in a 1.6 Turbo with less Torque which needs a more attacking style, know many of the rallys and the new cars will be a big leveller.
He is almost on a par with the likes of Henning Solberg in year one and a million miles ahead of the Useless Matthew Wilson (christ someone tell his dad to stop wasting cash on him and get him building the cars not driving them - did anyone see Dave on the last rally where on just one corner he lost amost a second to Loeb (great analysis) - shows how out of his depth.
Kimi GREAT for WRC - I can see why F1 just rubbed him up the wrong way with the endless PR and burecracy!
jellison said:
This is way out of date - he will be in a DS3.
Rallying at this level is Sooo much harder than circuit racing (th ebest driver in the World is clearly Seb Loeb), with the loose / constantly changing surfacess and you REALLY need to have experience of the rally stages.
He will be alot better next year in a 1.6 Turbo with less Torque which needs a more attacking style, know many of the rallys and the new cars will be a big leveller.
He is almost on a par with the likes of Henning Solberg in year one and a million miles ahead of the Useless Matthew Wilson (christ someone tell his dad to stop wasting cash on him and get him building the cars not driving them - did anyone see Dave on the last rally where on just one corner he lost amost a second to Loeb (great analysis) - shows how out of his depth.
Kimi GREAT for WRC - I can see why F1 just rubbed him up the wrong way with the endless PR and burecracy!
I was thinking the same thing about Wilson. He is a good driver but if the kid cant do it now after all his practice he will never do it! The comparison on Dave was great, really shows the difference between a good driver and a legend!! I would love to see the same based on Pete Solbergs progress.Rallying at this level is Sooo much harder than circuit racing (th ebest driver in the World is clearly Seb Loeb), with the loose / constantly changing surfacess and you REALLY need to have experience of the rally stages.
He will be alot better next year in a 1.6 Turbo with less Torque which needs a more attacking style, know many of the rallys and the new cars will be a big leveller.
He is almost on a par with the likes of Henning Solberg in year one and a million miles ahead of the Useless Matthew Wilson (christ someone tell his dad to stop wasting cash on him and get him building the cars not driving them - did anyone see Dave on the last rally where on just one corner he lost amost a second to Loeb (great analysis) - shows how out of his depth.
Kimi GREAT for WRC - I can see why F1 just rubbed him up the wrong way with the endless PR and burecracy!
Solberg is a legend in his own right and i cant wait to see him win his first rally in how many years. He is certainly showing us how bad the outgoing rally Impreza was since he is sitting in 4th in a private C4. Imagine how he might progress with a big, reliable team behind him again.
Does anyone know if Solberg is running with a manufacturer next season?
Evil.soup said:
Solberg is a legend in his own right and i cant wait to see him win his first rally in how many years. He is certainly showing us how bad the outgoing rally Impreza was since he is sitting in 4th in a private C4. Imagine how he might progress with a big, reliable team behind him again.
This one?
I didn't think he had done too badly in this car, took some decent places and some not so good ones. What was so bad about his Impreza? I know he had to retire a few times from mechanical failures, and I can't recall him ever rallying the Impreza GE chassised hatchback model, but I've heard heard the Impreza called a bad rally car, maybe I'm wrong!
I will really miss the Citroen C4 next year though, imo it's one of the rally greats. Say what you want about Citroen getting the better drivers etc, but I think it's a much more sorted rally car than the Ford Focus RS WRC of recent years, it just looks more balanced and stable at higher speeds, and had they not culled the current crop of cars I think Loeb, Ogier et al could have taken that car on to beat the Lancia Delta's "most WRC titles for a car" record with absolute ease.
Edited by Mastodon2 on Tuesday 2nd November 11:47
Evil.soup said:
jellison said:
This is way out of date - he will be in a DS3.
Rallying at this level is Sooo much harder than circuit racing (th ebest driver in the World is clearly Seb Loeb), with the loose / constantly changing surfacess and you REALLY need to have experience of the rally stages.
He will be alot better next year in a 1.6 Turbo with less Torque which needs a more attacking style, know many of the rallys and the new cars will be a big leveller.
He is almost on a par with the likes of Henning Solberg in year one and a million miles ahead of the Useless Matthew Wilson (christ someone tell his dad to stop wasting cash on him and get him building the cars not driving them - did anyone see Dave on the last rally where on just one corner he lost amost a second to Loeb (great analysis) - shows how out of his depth.
Kimi GREAT for WRC - I can see why F1 just rubbed him up the wrong way with the endless PR and burecracy!
I was thinking the same thing about Wilson. He is a good driver but if the kid cant do it now after all his practice he will never do it! The comparison on Dave was great, really shows the difference between a good driver and a legend!! I would love to see the same based on Pete Solbergs progress.Rallying at this level is Sooo much harder than circuit racing (th ebest driver in the World is clearly Seb Loeb), with the loose / constantly changing surfacess and you REALLY need to have experience of the rally stages.
He will be alot better next year in a 1.6 Turbo with less Torque which needs a more attacking style, know many of the rallys and the new cars will be a big leveller.
He is almost on a par with the likes of Henning Solberg in year one and a million miles ahead of the Useless Matthew Wilson (christ someone tell his dad to stop wasting cash on him and get him building the cars not driving them - did anyone see Dave on the last rally where on just one corner he lost amost a second to Loeb (great analysis) - shows how out of his depth.
Kimi GREAT for WRC - I can see why F1 just rubbed him up the wrong way with the endless PR and burecracy!
Solberg is a legend in his own right and i cant wait to see him win his first rally in how many years. He is certainly showing us how bad the outgoing rally Impreza was since he is sitting in 4th in a private C4. Imagine how he might progress with a big, reliable team behind him again.
Does anyone know if Solberg is running with a manufacturer next season?
Wilson - a joke (I'm sure many on here have more skill at least on Tarmac than him - certainly not saying that on gravel as that is much more of a slowly lean't skill).
Hope Pete can be in a DS3. Seems he still is not getting the Ok to get a new Fiesta as Malcolm Wilson is still pissed at him from the best bit of 10 years back (he needs to grow some balls - sack his useless son and pop Pete in the Stobart / Monster Satalite (but works) Fiesta (DS would be better though)).
Mastodon2 said:
Evil.soup said:
Solberg is a legend in his own right and i cant wait to see him win his first rally in how many years. He is certainly showing us how bad the outgoing rally Impreza was since he is sitting in 4th in a private C4. Imagine how he might progress with a big, reliable team behind him again.
This one?I didn't think he had done too badly in this car, took some decent places and some not so good ones. What was so bad about his Impreza? I know he had to retire a few times from mechanical failures, and I can't recall him ever rallying the Impreza GE chassised hatchback model, but I've heard heard the Impreza called a bad rally car, maybe I'm wrong!
I will really miss the Citroen C4 next year though, imo it's one of the rally greats. Say what you want about Citroen getting the better drivers etc, but I think it's a much more sorted rally car than the Ford Focus RS WRC of recent years, it just looks more balanced and stable at higher speeds, and had they not culled the current crop of cars I think Loeb, Ogier et al could have taken that car on to beat the Lancia Delta's "most WRC titles for a car" record with absolute ease.
Edited by Mastodon2 on Tuesday 2nd November 11:47
posting two-week old (something) news? PH, you could do better.
Kimi did well for the guy who drove in 3 (I think it is three) rallies in his life before his full season WRC. Way better than Block (who had more experience in Rally). Not bad for a guy who doon't like people to talk to him while he is driving. Hopefully he can get DS3 for next year. These days even Sordo doesn't have a contract for 2011
Edit: spelling... I am sure it is still not correct
PH, you could do better.Kimi did well for the guy who drove in 3 (I think it is three) rallies in his life before his full season WRC. Way better than Block (who had more experience in Rally). Not bad for a guy who doon't like people to talk to him while he is driving. Hopefully he can get DS3 for next year. These days even Sordo doesn't have a contract for 2011
Edit: spelling... I am sure it is still not correct
Edited by Denorth on Tuesday 2nd November 12:02
Evil.soup said:
Yes mate thats the one. I own this model Impreza and I love it to bits. As a road car it is bulletproof and one of the best cars i have ever driven for the money but as a rally car it was far too unreliable to be competative where as the C4 was taking wins, largly due to Loeb, but also due to the cars ability to keep going even when being thrashed to its limits be Loeb. absolutely huge team budget
EFA 
Beefmeister][Kimimonotone said:
Yeswehavenothadagoodseasonbuthtecarhasnotbeenthebestandthecourseshavebeenrubbishandwedidn'teatourweetabixandanyotherexcusestodetractfromthefactthati'mjustnotaverygoodrallydriver.
[/Kimimonotone]
[/Kimimonotone]
Brilliant, but you forgot the "for sure" bit at the beginning. I think it will be great for these guys to be in the same team. However they both need to up their game & avoid making mistakes like these on the WRC Catalunya..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqVpQtaic9I&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJhrwVv9ZdM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqVpQtaic9I&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJhrwVv9ZdM
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