Category: WRC

There’s an interesting interview with WRC-bound Kimi Raikkonen over at The Red Bulletin website. Despite claiming he could return to F1 at a time of his choosing Kimi gives the indication his WRC debut cannot come soon enough.

“It’s definitely the biggest challenge yet. I’ve got to learn everything from scratch. But I want the challenge. I have to get to know the car, the rallies, how to work with my co-driver [Kai Lindström], everything. I’m looking forward to it,” Raikkonen continued, “I’m finding a bit of the young Kimi in me again.”

With rumours that Raikkonen’s new found connections with Red Bull could spell doom and gloom for Mark Webber, the following comments won’t exactly put Webber’s mind at ease, but they won’t have him trembling with fear either, “I could get an F1 drive again any time, but lots of bad things are happening in F1. Manufacturers are pulling out. Let’s have the same conversation in a year’s time. Let’s look way into the future.”

The article is definitely worth checking out as Kimi covers a number of topics, including his first rallying experience, a startling inability to name one F1 highlight (“I’d find it difficult to pick a single moment from the last nine years”) and much more.

[Source: The Red Bulletin]

Kimi Raikonnen will take part in 12 of the 13 rounds of next year’s World Rally Championship. The news was confirmed earlier today by Citroën Sport, who announced Raikonnen will form part of their Citroën Junior Team racing in C4 WRCs.

According to Kimi this deal fulfils a life long ambition, “I always wanted to compete in rally, especially in the World Rally Championship at some point in my career.

“Thanks to Red Bull, I have the opportunity to drive the best car of the series with the Citroën C4. This is a new but very exciting challenge. For the moment we have a one-year contract and we will see how it goes for the future. I am really looking forward to testing the car and taking the start of the first rally.”

Raikkonen took part in the Rally of Finland earlier this year, behind the wheel of a Fiat (pictured above) and, well, things didn’t exactly work out for the best. Here’s hopeing he keeps it shiny side up in 2010.

[Source: Citroën Racing]

The Citröen Racing partnership of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena secured their sixth successive WRC title overnight by winning the final rally of the year, the Rally of Great Britain. The rally, set in the Welsh countryside, was a tight battle between Loeb/Elena and Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen pairing, and provided a snapshot of the season itself.

Hirvonen started the rally with a one point lead over Loeb in the title race, but it wasn’t enough. The Frenchman won the race, the Finn was second. Loeb’s victory reversed the drivers’ title scenario and he grasped the world championship from Hirvonen by a single point (93 points to 92).

Loeb had established a 30 second lead at the start of the final day, but desperate driving from Hirvonen reduced the deficit to 18 seconds after the first two stages of the day.

On the second last stage the title was all but decided when a bonnet pin on Hirvonen’s car broke and forced the bonnet to open. Hirvonen had to stop and take the dramatic option of tearing off the bonnet completely before he could continue. This gave Loeb a lead of almost 90 seconds and the chance to drive with caution on the final stage to clinch his sixth world crown.

“There were so much pressure right up to the end of the rally,” said Sébastien Loeb amidst a swarm of microphones. “We had a good start to the year, but then encountered a few problems. However, we got back on top of things just before this rally. Finally, we’ve managed to win the title again, on the penultimate stage. Mikko didn’t give up and I had to push right to the finish. It’s never easy to compare one title with another, but I think this is the best one in terms of the sporting battle we had.”

For more, check out this Q&A with Loeb at wrc.com.

In some good news for the WRC Citroën Racing have announced they will be extending their commitment to the series until at least 2011.

With four manufacturers’ championships and, of course, five drivers’ titles for Sébastien Loeb, I guess the old adage of “when you’re on a good thing, stick to it” applies here.

Citroën say competing in the WRC allows them to showcase “Créative Technologie” philosophy. Director of Citroën Racing, Olivier Quesnel, said, “In the current difficult financial climate, it is important to keep on expressing ourselves through motorsport and through the victories of our teams and cars.

“The FIA World Rally Championship, where the costs remain contained, is an excellent promotional vehicle for the Company. Citroën Racing is delighted by the trust that has been placed in us by Citroën’s board of directors and the PSA Group.”

Quesnel is confident there will be no changes to the team’s driver pairings, “We are currently working with our existing driver line-up to renew their contracts. I am confident that Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo will be continuing their adventure with Citroën Racing into the future.”

World Rally Championship series leader Sebastien Loeb has spectacularly crashed out of the Acropolis Rally in Greece, as this footage shows. The incident happened yesterday, on the opening stage of day two. Loeb, recently awarded France’s highest civilian honour, was the Acropolis winner in 2008 and his chances of defending that title were well and truly smashed to pieces with this high speed accident.

Thankfully, Loeb and co-driver, Daniel Elena, are okay with both men able to immediately free themselves from the wreckage. Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen currently leads the rally.

Extra footage of Loeb’s crash can be seen on the Eurosport website.