Raikkonen to compete in WRC in Finland

[Cotterik]

Kimi Raikkonen is to make his debut in the Wold Rally Championship at the end of next month when he competes in his native Finland.

The 2007 world champion, who has competed in three non-championship rallies already this year, will be behind the wheel of a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto for Rally Finland, with the event to mark his first on a gravel surface.

Raikkonen will be co-driven by Kaj Lindstrom, his fellow Finn having formerly partnered multiple WRC champion Tommi Makinen, with the rally to start four days after the Hungarian Grand Prix, and in the first week of F1’s month-long summer break, on July 30.

Full Article: ITV-F1.com

heck, maybe if next season ferrari still fail to deliver he'll do the typical finnish tradition and try to dominate the world rally instead.

[henk4]

Hopefully that is the start of revision of the now 30 year old trend or so where F1 robots are not allowed to participate in anything else but their own mounts. (Bourdais of course being the exception, and some test drivers).
It may allow other types of motor sport (and usually much more interesting per se) to attract public attention, and also attention from the very F1 focused general media.

[ScionDriver]

I do miss watching the old WRC wrap up shows on Sunday nights on Speed. They dropped their WRC coverage several years ago and I know I am not the only one who was saddened by that. The only rally coverage we get in the US now is the X-Games and frankly Travis Pestroda rolling a WRX on a makeshift rally course that looks more like a Moto-X or monster truck course inside LA's Staple's Center is a sad excuse for the sport.

[Black Edition]

wow. it's very nice to see how f1 drivers compare to wrc drivers at rally territiry

[henk4]

wow. it's very nice to see how f1 drivers compare to wrc drivers at rally territiry

there have been some demos in the past, involving Loeb and Kovalainen, trading cars. Interestingly, F3000 driver Stephane Sarazin, who nibbled on the doors of F1, went on to WRC for a year, and then went for the Le Mans Prototypes.

[Cotterik]

i can imagine the reflexes required to drive in the WRC arent so different from f1. since afterall in F1 the drivers memorize the circuit, and effectively know whats coming for 60 laps. Whereas in a rally they can try to memorize it but hundreds of miles of terrain soon blur in the mind. So 190mph around a circuit isnt so different to 100mph around a blind bend in the hills. I think i saw a documentary once that tested colin mcrae's reflexes compared to schumachers. Both were immensely quick but essentially the same. So I think as henk pointed out a racing driver can apply his talents in more types of racing than one.

[Black Edition]

i can imagine the reflexes required to drive in the WRC arent so different from f1. since afterall in F1 the drivers memorize the circuit, and effectively know whats coming for 60 laps. Whereas in a rally they can try to memorize it but hundreds of miles of terrain soon blur in the mind. So 190mph around a circuit isnt so different to 100mph around a blind bend in the hills. I think i saw a documentary once that tested colin mcrae's reflexes compared to schumachers. Both were immensely quick but essentially the same. So I think as henk pointed out a racing driver can apply his talents in more types of racing than one.

so that's why rally drivers have navigators. but yeah, it may still be a challenge for raikkonen since f1 is very much unlike rallying

[Jack_Bauer]

Hopefully that is the start of revision of the now 30 year old trend or so where F1 robots are not allowed to participate in anything else but their own mounts. (Bourdais of course being the exception, and some test drivers).
It may allow other types of motor sport (and usually much more interesting per se) to attract public attention, and also attention from the very F1 focused general media.

Actually Raikkonen has already been participating in other forms of motorsport in recent years. He has raced snowmobiles in the winter off season with some success (albeit racing under the pseudonym 'James Hunt'), and has also taken part in a powerboat race (dressed in a gorilla suit, bizarrely). Unfortunately Raikkonen hates the media spotlight and would not wish to draw much attention to the fact that he has an interest in other motorsports.

Also, given his lack-lustre performances for Ferrari in the last year and a half, I imagine the Ferrari board and the Tifosi would much rather he focused his efforts on the job he is being payed tens of millions of Euros for, rather than hooning about in a rally car!

[henk4]

Well, you know I was referring to the times when the likes of Stewart, Andretti, Clark, Hill, Surtees etc etc could be seen in all sorts of machinery all season long. (actually yesterday one of the recent LeMans winners was performing some unlikely activities at the Modena Motorsport Trackdays at the Nuerburgring, but probably with consent of his employer. His presence went by fully unnoticed and unannounced).

[Soloracer]

Well we know Kimi drives every lap in F1 like he's qualifying, balls out if you will. Rallying requires this sort of "courage" and generally gutsy-ness that he seems to possess, crash or not so I wouldn't be surprised if Raikkonen succeeds in WRC too. Maybe he and Loeb can switch spots as we know Loeb is growing bored with WRC and Raikkonen, well Raikkonen has never seemed interested in anything...

[Ferrer]

i can imagine the reflexes required to drive in the WRC arent so different from f1. since afterall in F1 the drivers memorize the circuit, and effectively know whats coming for 60 laps. Whereas in a rally they can try to memorize it but hundreds of miles of terrain soon blur in the mind. So 190mph around a circuit isnt so different to 100mph around a blind bend in the hills. I think i saw a documentary once that tested colin mcrae's reflexes compared to schumachers. Both were immensely quick but essentially the same. So I think as henk pointed out a racing driver can apply his talents in more types of racing than one.

Track racing and rallying require a very different set of talents. Basically in track racing you memorise the track and go ten tenths all the way, tenths of a second are everything. In rallying though there's a lot more improvisation and margin since you only have one chance of taking the corner well. Tenths of a second aren't that important and if you make a mistake you are crashing into a tree and ending your rally there.

Or at least it used to be until rallying was turned into a joke of its former self.

[slotsitges]

faltal crash