Kimi Raikkonen Can't Wait to Race at the Rally Finland

[anthonyvop]

He does sound quite excited about his WRC debut.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/226950-wrc-kimi-raikkonen-cant-wait-to-race-at-the-rally-finland

[Helstar]

I bet 100$ for some offroad experience within the end of first day...

[N.O.T]

these f1 kids are just not men enough to be competitive in a mens sport.....good luck kimi.

[jimakos]

I agree with N.O.T.
WRC is a very special sport and kids of F1
haven't luck!
Although, I'm very curious to see Kimi driving for WRC
in his country ;)

[Finni]

these f1 kids are just not men enough to be competitive in a mens sport.....good luck kimi.

LOL

[pavlos_a]

these f1 kids are just not men enough to be competitive in a mens sport.....good luck kimi.

Vre N.O.T min mas kaneis rezili... Tha gelane mazi mas

[Miika]

A woops lolz indeed. Go Kimi.

[N.O.T]

I guess you think that being competitive with 2 ''never beens'' and 1 minute behind a ''wannabe'' is good.....ok

LoL indeed

[pavlos_a]

I guess you think that being competitive with 2 ''never beens'' and 1 minute behind a ''wannabe'' is good.....ok

LoL indeed

rezili ginomastai, kopse taxythta

[Helstar]

He's clearly slow but I lost my bet :p !

[havk]

Great drive from Raikkonen I knew he'd be fast but he's even faster than I thought. He's not far away from Abarth manufucturer driver - Alen, and ahead of Flodin.


I guess you think that being competitive with 2 ''never beens'' and 1 minute behind a ''wannabe'' is good.....ok

LoL indeed

Tuohino is "never been" for You??!! I don't understand what You expect from the driver who is competing 4th time in rally and first in WRC. It's obvious he will not win at once. Naming f1 drivers kids... ok for some of f1 drivers rallies seem to be too hard and dangerous (Hakkinen speaking about driving amongst trees) but still do not see a reason to name them kids. F1 is very demanding sport too. Schumacher said once that he have never been interested in driving hard amongst trees and he's one of the biggest sport star in the world, proffesional in everything he does...

[cut the b.s.]

Great drive from Raikkonen I knew he'd be fast but he's even faster than I thought. He's not far away from Abarth manufucturer driver - Alen, and ahead of Flodin.



Tuohino is "never been" for You??!! I don't understand what You expect from the driver who is competing 4th time in rally and first in WRC. It's obvious he will not win at once. Naming f1 drivers kids... ok for some of f1 drivers rallies seem to be too hard and dangerous (Hakkinen speaking about driving amongst trees) but still do not see a reason to name them kids. F1 is very demanding sport too. Schumacher said once that he have never been interested in driving hard amongst trees and he's one of the biggest sport star in the world, proffesional in everything he does...

never mind N.O.T., he is NOThing but a internet knobjockey spouting siht to get reactions

Damned impressive drive from Kimi, didnt pick and easy event to debut at WRC but is doing great. I am foremost a rally fan, but respect the top guys and occasionally girls in most series, for those who think F1 is for wimps, tell me how do you think any rally driver, past or present, would do in Spa in the wet?

[N.O.T]

Tuohino is "never been" for You??!! I don't understand what You expect from the driver who is competing 4th time in rally and first in WRC. It's obvious he will not win at once.

i expected him to be far worse as i said before....but surpassing the expectations from being characterised great has a difference.....he is not doing great, he is 1 minute slower than Hanninen who isn;t exactly a prospect...

[N.O.T]

never mind N.O.T., he is NOThing but a internet knobjockey spouting siht to get reactions

thank you.... is calling names how you deal with different opinions in your life??

I tend to back up what i am saying with facts....you see greatness in Kimis performance while he is 1 minute below a solid driver with no future in the big league, i don;t see anything great in that.

[seb_sh]

Kimi is doing surprisingly well, not burning up the road but for his level of experience in rallying it's not bad at all. He's doing better than some have predicted anyway ;)

[urabus-denoS2000]

I think Haninnen definately belongs to the big league,in a better WRC with 5 manufacters with 3 cars

[tmx]

Kimi is doing surprisingly well, not burning up the road but for his level of experience in rallying it's not bad at all. He's doing better than some have predicted anyway ;) I disagree, he is beating other more experienced rally drivers. I am blowned away by his performance and its supposed to be his first gravel rally. Would like to see if he can challenge for the podium.

[Finni]

thank you.... is calling names how you deal with different opinions in your life??

I tend to back up what i am saying with facts....you see greatness in Kimis performance while he is 1 minute below a solid driver with no future in the big league, i don;t see anything great in that.

If we wants to be logical: name one driver who has driven stage times near to driver like Hänninen with only 300 ss kilometres under his belt? Don't you understand that rallying is one of the most difficult sport in the world to master without extensive practise? Certainly you have no any concept whatsoever what is expectable developement rate for the driver who has just started rallying.

[RS]

thank you.... is calling names how you deal with different opinions in your life??

I tend to back up what i am saying with facts....you see greatness in Kimis performance while he is 1 minute below a solid driver with no future in the big league, i don;t see anything great in that.

My feeling is that Hanninen has more natural speed than a driver like Hirvonen. The only reason why he wouldn't have a future in the "big league" is because there are no paying drives available.

[N.O.T]

ooops seems that the F1 wonder boy kid didn't ate his breakfast.... 3 minutes behind the wannabe now and flodin also ahead.... too may trees on the side of the road i guess.... Thank god for the talent spotting capabilities of makinen.

[Tomi]

might be also that he is not so familiar with how to make notes, better see how the second pass goes with corrected ones.

[RS]

might be also that he is not so familiar with how to make notes, better see how the second pass goes with corrected ones.

Kimi had some problems with the car on the first loop today, but seems you were right. Much better second time though.

[Sulland]

So far he is my "Man of the rally" - I am impressed.

Will be interesting to see what he chooses to do in 2010 !

[N.O.T]

he will join rossi (the other miracle wonder boy) and create a private team and fight for the championship in the WRC....nobody can stop these two wonder miracle kids from space.... Loeb will retire out of fear, Latvala will become an exporter of exotic animals and Hirvonen will go crab fishing.....sordo will stay in the team as the one to serve dinner breakfast and lunch to the wonder boys.

[Sulland]

he will join rossi (the other miracle wonder boy) and create a private team and fight for the championship in the WRC....nobody can stop these two wonder miracle kids from space.... Loeb will retire out of fear, Latvala will become an exporter of exotic animals and Hirvonen will go crab fishing.....sordo will stay in the team as the one to serve dinner breakfast and lunch to the wonder boys.

Wow, to much uozo last night. Very positive this morning, not ! :bonce:

[HaCo]

Kimi is doing well in this event. He is an F1 driver, taking that into account he's doing good times.
I don't understand you NOT, having a problem that stars from other sports take part in rally's. I think it's good for the sport, it adds extra cars to the field, extra attention and maybe it will generate new fans, which would make the sport more popular.

Vettel visited Loeb in the Service Park. Would be good to see him once in a rallycar as well.

[N.O.T]

Kimi is doing well in this event. He is an F1 driver, taking that into account he's doing good times.
I don't understand you NOT, having a problem that stars from other sports take part in rally's. I think it's good for the sport, it adds extra cars to the field, extra attention and maybe it will generate new fans, which would make the sport more popular.

Vettel visited Loeb in the Service Park. Would be good to see him once in a rallycar as well.


thats the problem with rallying but also the beauty of it....every useless celebrity boy thinks rallying is just for FUN and apart from that it has a following of ignorant pathetic kids saying that rallying needs them.....rallying doesn't need outsiders to flourish, it has its drivers and champions, it just needs attention from the FIA dogs to rise again.

When rallying was in its glory days in 80s-90s how many celebrity kids did you see entering events ????

Rallying needs a superlicence to avoid those ridiculous excursions from motorsport boys and also useless amateurs with money.

[r199]

Rallying needs a superlicence to avoid those ridiculous excursions from motorsport boys and also useless amateurs with money.


So u whant a wrc with 2 diverent cars and only 4 drivers????
that sounds fun

[raybak]

Rallying needs a superlicence to avoid those ridiculous excursions from motorsport boys and also useless amateurs with money.

The beauty about rallying is that the average joe punter can compete against the best in the world.

I have a plan to one day do Rally Finland, I'm not a star driver, not a rich or celebrity driver, but under the current rules i can do the event. If you take this away event numbers will drop, the fans will disappear when they only have 15 or 20 cars to watch.

You must remember that it's mostly the tail enders where a lot of the action happens.

Ray Baker

[Tomi]

The beauty about rallying is that the average joe punter can compete against the best in the world.

I have a plan to one day do Rally Finland, I'm not a star driver, not a rich or celebrity driver, but under the current rules i can do the event. If you take this away event numbers will drop, the fans will disappear when they only have 15 or 20 cars to watch.

You must remember that it's mostly the tail enders where a lot of the action happens.

Ray Baker

why not do the F-Group vetomies rally, from here it would be easy to rent a car with fullservice, I have a friend who could help you out, he might give some driving lessons as well.

[HaCo]

NOT, I do not agree with you. When a guy like Raikkonen comes to Finland, ppl in the world see that rallying is not an easy sport at all. If this would be the case, Hanninen wouldn't be able to follow a top formula 1 driver. So, it gives the extra respect rally drivers deserve...

Plus it is just great that you can participate as an amateur to those big events. This is an extra charm of rallying.

Superlicence idea fits perfect in the row of ideas the FIA had the latest years which made the sport in the form it is right now, let's hope they will not hear it from NOT! ;)

[r199]

i finaly understand the guy, and i mean N.O.T (Negative.On.Topics)

[Abarth]

Becks in the rally radio said that the number of emails had gone up quite a bit from Raikkonen fans that suddenly got the taste for rally. Nice spin off effect !

Sad if it is over for finland.

More interesting is what he will do after his F1 careear is over.

[N.O.T]

More interesting is what he will do after his F1 careear is over.

i cannot see this happening soon.....i doubt Raikkonen is that stupid to throw away the millions of ferrari for the pocket money of abarth....and i doubt that the FIAT group will pay the same amount to a driver that can do a far worse job than its current ones.

[JFL]

i cannot see this happening soon.....i doubt Raikkonen is that stupid to throw away the millions of ferrari for the pocket money of abarth....and i doubt that the FIAT group will pay the same amount to a driver that can do a far worse job than its current ones.

But the sallery Petter recieved from Subaru, was a different matter? :D

[Finni]

i cannot see this happening soon.....i doubt Raikkonen is that stupid to throw away the millions of ferrari for the pocket money of abarth....and i doubt that the FIAT group will pay the same amount to a driver that can do a far worse job than its current ones.

You ing fool don't understand that Räikkönen will evolve with giant steps in that phase. In Finland drivers with that experience are junior drivers who can't even get group N cars in their hands. It takes only few more 300 km+ races more and he will beat all current Fiat drivers consistently.

Today Räikkönen have had severe engine problems so moderate time-loss to Alen shouldn't be counted as indicative.

[N.O.T]

You ing fool don't understand that Räikkönen will evolve with giant steps in that phase.

i am in awe.....

I really hope he doesn;t evolve too quickly though....or at least give Loeb/sordo and the ford kids a chance to catch up.....we have a dominant champion for 5 years now we don;t need another one. But if he doesn;t show any mercy and ridicules everyone we will bring Rossi miracle boy to challenge him so its ok we might have a battle once more.....

[Finni]

Dear N.O.T can I get reply to my question:

"Name one driver who has driven stage times near to driver like Hänninen with only 300 ss kilometres under his belt?"

Because Räikkönen has not fullfilled your standards of excellence I am eager to know who has done so. I guess that you are not competent to answer this question because you have not followed rallying closely enough to know what usual developement rate of excellent drivers.

If I will not get serious reply to that I will ignore you forever :D

[N.O.T]

i just checked and saw that he is just 30 years old....at that tender age he has at least 20 year of racing in him....damn we must act quickly to save the sport from the storm....

[N.O.T]

Dear N.O.T can I get reply to my question:

"Name one driver who has driven stage times near to driver like Hänninen with only 300 ss kilometres under his belt?"

Because Räikkönen has not fullfilled your standards of excellence I am eager to know who has done so. I guess that you are not competent to answer this question because you have not followed rallying closely enough to know what usual developement rate of excellent drivers.

If I will not get serious reply to that I will ignore you forever :D

1st he is not near Hanninen he is 3 minutes behind in 1.5 days of competition...and WHO IS HANNINEN ?? who has he ever beaten in his career....he was struggling to keep up in IRC this year in the village events, and was busy filling the ditches when he run in PWRC to keep Arai the japanese ninja behind.

Raikonen wasn't a vermin terminator to earn money all these years, he comes from a motorsport so its not quite an outsider....

As for a name i give you....TAAADAAAAAAAAAA Sarazzin......and we know how that ended.

As i said he did far better than i expected...but he has no future in a mens sport like rallying.

I will have respect for those celebrity little kids who think rallying is fun when they say that they will take rallying seriously and start a serious career in it and not run one offs just to have 15 year old kids running around them for autographs. If kimi, rossi, britney spears and michael jackson decide they want to be rally drivers they must prove it...then they will get respect.

[cut the b.s.]

thats the problem with rallying but also the beauty of it....every useless celebrity boy thinks rallying is just for FUN and apart from that it has a following of ignorant pathetic kids saying that rallying needs them.....rallying doesn't need outsiders to flourish, it has its drivers and champions, it just needs attention from the FIA dogs to rise again.

When rallying was in its glory days in 80s-90s how many celebrity kids did you see entering events ????

Rallying needs a superlicence to avoid those ridiculous excursions from motorsport boys and also useless amateurs with money.

Mr/Ms NOT, I said you were an ' internet knobjockey spouting siht to get reactions', this was not name calling, merely a statement of fact based on having read many of your posts. Sometimes I do agree with or at least understand your opinions but usually, as now, you are wrong. Still it is how you put your opinions across that makes what I said, not the opinions themselves.
Your own statement above of 'ignorant pathetic kids ' is name calling.

[Finni]

1st he is not near Hanninen he is 3 minutes behind in 1.5 days of competition...

I was speaking about singular stage times near to Hänninen. But considering your overall claim there should be noted that Fiat is not at the level of Skoda in terms of reliability (Räikkönen has had already share of these problems) and probably Fiat is also slower car (at least this is quite common perception; altough ther fact that Kimi set even few stage times very near to Juho makes me think that perhaps it's the Fiat drivers and not the car that has made the car appear as slow). So I would say that 2 minutes behind Hänninen would be more descriptive in terms of driving. That's unbelievable performance. For instance Matthew Wilson (after five years of rallying) is now five minutes behind Hirvonen and four minutes behind Sordo.


and WHO IS HANNINEN ?? who has he ever beaten in his career....he was struggling to keep up in IRC this year in the village events, and was busy filling the ditches when he run in PWRC to keep Arai the japanese ninja behind.

First of all it must be said that Arai has given occasional challenges to every driver in Pwrc during last ten years - including for instance Latvala. And what comes to Hänninen's pwrc-performance he was at least as convincing as Latvala. In his first international rally Hänninen set consistently better stage times than Latvala. And we know what Latvala can do at his best. Consequently there is no reason to undermine Hänninen's level.


As for a name i give you....TAAADAAAAAAAAAA Sarazzin......and we know how that ended.

Sarrazin beated both Subaru-drivers in his last year so his early pace was indicative of his potential.

Getting pace up on gravel rally in Finland is much trickier than in some smooth asphalt rally. For instance Loeb was three or four minutes of the pace in his first wrc-year in Finland. Despite being moderately experienced already, having good understanding of pace-notes, having one rally Finland under his belt... I would still want to know if any driver has done similar stage times, as Kimi now, in gravel or snow rally after three or four hundred competitive kilometer.


As i said he did far better than i expected...but he has no future in a mens sport like rallying.


Absurd. In that case no-one has..

[N.O.T]

singular times lead into overall lead

Hanninen is an ok driver with limited potential...better than some M2 drivers

last time i checked kimi is from finland...

Yes no one has a future in rallying if he doesn;t take it seriously or if his main ocupation is an oversized Kart driver.

[Finni]

I guess that was my last comment in this thread. In any case N.O.T will have humble pie to eat in the future.

[JFL]

It should be a "red ignore button" in here! ..

[Doon]

What is your best rally finish N.O.T? Can be Local, National, WRC etc.....

[Helstar]

I have the final words for this (call me God xD !)

No matter what's the... matter (lol): the truth is always in the middle ^^

[Boudica]

Car badly damaged - Räikkönen will not continue tomorrow

But.... according to information MTV3 has got, Ford's boss Malcolm Wilson has offered a rally test for Räikkönen.

Wilson has offered Räikkönen a WRC-seat.

- Räikkönen is a real talent, Wilson said.

[awake27]

Car badly damaged - Räikkönen will not continue tomorrow

But.... according to information MTV3 has got, Ford's boss Malcolm Wilson has offered a rally test for Räikkönen.

Wilson has offered Räikkönen a WRC-seat.

- Räikkönen is a real talent, Wilson said.
Well Malcolm targeting another customer with big pockets. It is all business. Unless is free there is not point for Raikkonen, after all WRC cars have less than 1.5 years of life.

[N.O.T]

Wilson has offered Räikkönen a WRC-seat.

- Räikkönen is a real talent, Wilson said.

yes and a rich one as well.....

[urabus-denoS2000]

N.O.T. Haninnen is a works driver which makes him one of the best

[urabus-denoS2000]

BTW is there a pic of the Punto?

[N.O.T]

in wrc.com front page.

[Xsara Fan]

BTW is there a pic of the Punto?

http://wrc.com/news/big/090801_krash.jpg

[Xsara Fan]

Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie0VlxQO32k

[Ucci]

Some post are funny, but some are patetic...I can not understant people, who are so insulting with their writting.
I admit :p ersonally I'm excited about Kimi's performance. Unlike the majority on this forum, I had a chance and see Kimi live in Italy (did not really come far) and the guy really has no fear (very important in Finland !!), a lot of talent (read the words of his famous co-driver!!), he is learning terrifying fast !! It is true, last seconds which are missing compare to the best are difficult to achieve, but as already mentioned, he learns quickly (and not to forget, his teacher is Makinen).
If he continues his engagament in rally(I strong belive he does) he will often get out of the car facing the roof, but this is a phase which no top-class rally driver gets away. Therefore Kimi, yust keep on with this No.1 sport in the world!!

[Eki]

yes and a rich one as well.....
But he wasn't rich when he started his motorsport career.

[N.O.T]

But he wasn't rich when he started his motorsport career.

thats why Malcom offered him testing now and not before and thats why everyone everyone see the greatness in kimi...too many sponsors to feed from.

[Daniel]

Car badly damaged - Räikkönen will not continue tomorrow

But.... according to information MTV3 has got, Ford's boss Malcolm Wilson has offered a rally test for Räikkönen.

Wilson has offered Räikkönen a WRC-seat.

- Räikkönen is a real talent, Wilson said.

Funny if true. Wilson is a bit of a fool. Anyone with a brain knows Kimi is contacted to only drive Fiat group cars. If Kimi drives a Focus he'll be in deep doo doo.

[JRodrigues]

It seems that NOT likes to be the center of conversations, so the best thing you could do is gnore him and let him cry alone.

[Boudica]

Tommi Mäkinen said Anton's car has a more modern power transmission and a slightly more powerful engine than Kimi's car. So Kimi wasn't really suppose to be faster then him at times.

Alen has been a Fiat driver for two years now, and according to Kay Lindstrom: "We've done two different tests - both in the same Abarth car we'll use this week. The first one was two weeks ago, when we did about 130kms on roads close to Jyvaskyla. We had another test on Monday and Tuesday last week on roads nearer to Jamsa, and on that one we did roughly 200km."
"...Yes, and the first test was his first time ever on gravel with the rally car.
So Kimi had trained on gravel for two weeks.

Kimi's car had a lot of problems today, according to Tommi Mäkinen there was a shock absorber broken, the engine was cutting out, the bottom hanging, there was problems with the start motor and the gearbox had problems at one time.

Yet Kimi was still able to be only 3 seconds slower then Hanninen on some stages. And apparently Hanninen won a rally on gravel only a week ago. I am not a rally expert, but if you put everything together it sounds like Kimi was really very impressive! It is a shame he will not be taken part tomorrow. Kimi doesn't really have experience of making pacenotes and using a co-driver, if he gains more experience he can properly be very quick. And he is not just another Hakkinen, he has already beaten Mika by quite a margin in his first Arctic rally (with even less testing then this rally), with the Fiat while Mika was driving a Evo.

How can it be a bad thing for drivers to try different motorsports? Drivers used to do this all the time, until marketing and PR became to important. Kimi is still one of the few drivers who tries his hand at other motorsport, he is a true racer. But I think he has a genuine interest in rally, he has said himself that he would consider it as a career option, when his contract has expired. But there is nothing wrong with drivers trying other forms of motorsport. If Sebastian Loeb really drives for Torro Rosso in Abu Dhabi, I for one will be cheering him on.

This was the first rally event that I have really followed closely and it has been lots of fun, I will definitely be paying closer attention to rallying in the future.

[bowler]

This was the first rally event that I have really followed closely and it has been lots of fun, I will definitely be paying closer attention to rallying in the future.

.....and that, ladies, gentlemen and N.O.T is why having drivers like Raikkonen and Rossi participate is such a good thing.

Good drive by Kimi, sorry he went off. Like any champion he was very quick in relative to his other competitors. The same would apply for Loeb in F1.

[SubaruNorway]

I remember Kimi doing gravel notes for someone in Monte Carlo one year, anyone know how extensive that was?

[A.F.F.]

Funny thread but what can you expect if you know anything about the starter of it.

Most amusing is that little girl from Greece who can't see the forest from the trees. However, I must admit that before the rally I had similar opinions. But, after seeing Kimi's driving live and witnessing his way of taking that Punto through the corners, hairpins and jumps I have to say I was wrong. Kimi really has a potential to drive rally. I don't know how far his skils could take him but he really has a talent for it. And having better stage times than Anton Alen on the some stages which btw weren't to easy stages is amazing. Although, Alen was complaining about the handling of his Punto through the rally but still. All Kimi needs now is lots and lots of milage on various kinds of surfaces and who knows, he'll might have a future in the rally (too).

Anyways, very good job as long as it lasted Kimi and Kaj :up:

[Tomi]

And having better stage times than Anton Alen on the some stages which btw weren't to easy stages is amazing. Although, Alen was complaining about the handling of his Punto through the rally but still. All Kimi needs now is lots and lots of milage on various kinds of surfaces and who knows, he'll might have a future in the rally (too).

Anyways, very good job as long as it lasted Kimi and Kaj :up:

Do u know, did Tommi prepaire Anttus car aswell? Lol, Kaitsu did get more mediatime in this rally, than in his whole carreer.

[A.F.F.]

Yes, I believe Anttu and Kimi were team mates in this rally and both had TMR service.

[ProRally]

Yes, I believe Anttu and Kimi were team mates in this rally and both had TMR service.

The 'other' Abarth team was in IRC Madeira at the same time. Basso won IRC event with Punto, so maybe they found some more power

[Tomi]

Yes, I believe Anttu and Kimi were team mates in this rally and both had TMR service.

Thank u Sir.

[RS]

And having better stage times than Anton Alen on the some stages which btw weren't to easy stages is amazing. Although, Alen was complaining about the handling of his Punto through the rally but still. All Kimi needs now is lots and lots of milage on various kinds of surfaces and who knows, he'll might have a future in the rally (too).

He likes a whinge, does Anton. But I believe Kimi had some problems with his car too.

Kimi has already done events on snow, gravel and asphalt this year so he has the right approach.

[Tomi]

Alen was complaining about the handling of his Punto through the rally but still. :up:

U get what u order, maybe the other option would have been better after all, have u by the way seen the biography movie about Anton? Markku dont much hide what he thinks.

[RS]

Markku dont much hide what he thinks.

About Fiat?

I know he was pretty angry after Russia when a wheel "fell off" Anton's car.