Rally de España - Conference



Q:Kimi, we believe you won’t be starting the event here in Spain after an accident on the shakedown stage, can you tell us what happened?

KR:I touched the bank a little bit, the car jumped on the roof and [hit] the bank. It bent the roll cage and that’s it.

Q:How far into the stage were you?

KR:It was just before the tarmac starts.

Q:There’s damage to the car and you can’t start…

KR:That’s the rules. Nothing we can do.

Q:What did you think of the stages?

KR: I thought, from what I saw on the video, they are more straight and fast, but when I got here for the recce they were twisty with a lot of corners, that’s all we see. Now I go and do something else this weekend.

Q:What are your plans for the weekend? Will you stay around and support the guys?

KR:I think I’ll go back to Switzerland.

Q:What about the future? Is there any news yet?

KR:Unfortunately, not yet. There are some options and, for sure, I have to chose very quickly and chose the right one for myself. I haven’t done anything yet. I want to find some good way for the future.

Q:Has what happened here put you off rallying?

KR:Not really. Okay it has happened two times, but I knew that before the season. It hurts more that we can’t do the rally. And for the team, but there’s nothing I can do. It doesn’t change anything. I knew it would be difficult. I still enjoy it, I was look forward to this rally, but it will not happen.

Q:Will you have a decision about your future before Rally GB?

KR:I have to do it at some point, there’s always a timeframe for everything. I hope we get sorted by the end of the season, but I can’t promise anything.

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KIMI FEELS THE PAIN IN SPAIN


Kimi Raikkonen tested everything carefully during shakedown. Including the roll cage.

The Rally de Espana is well-known for being a compact event of the World Rally Championship, based on stages around the Port Aventura theme park in Salou.

But this year, the rally will be particularly short for former Grand Prix Champion and Red Bull driver Kimi Raikkonen. The flying Finn went flying a bit too early in proceedings, and damaged his car in the shakedown to the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship. The impact wasn't a huge one, but it damaged his Citroen C4 WRC's roll cage too badly for him to continue.

This year's Rally de Espana is being run for the first time on both gravel and asphalt surfaces, and the shakedown stage contained a bit of both. Kimi completed one run successfully, but clipped a bank on a left-hand corner halfway through the second run, just after the gravel finished and the asphalt began. The impact tipped his car over, and it rolled. The roll cage just above co-driver Kaj Lindstrom's seat was damaged, which meant that for safety reasons Kimi's car was not able to start the rally.

"It was just one of those stupid things that happens sometimes: I just touched the bank and the car rolled," said the Iceman. "It's the sort of thing that if you're lucky you get away with it, but on this occasion there was something that damaged the roll cage on Kaj's side of the car. We can't restart so that's the end of that. It's a pity as I think it was a rally that might have suited us but now we'll never know. I'm obviously disappointed, but I've been around motorsport for long enough to know that disappointments are part of the game sometimes; it's how you deal with them that matters. Now I'm just looking forward to our next event and I'm going to concentrate on the future. That's always more interesting than the past."

The Rally de Espana has often been described as the closest that the World Rally Championship comes to circuit racing, but Kimi will be watching it on television this year as he is now heading straight home to Switzerland.

Kaj Lindstrom is also resigned to being a spectator, but he is always able to look on the bright side of any situation. "It's a pity, but this doesn't really change anything for us," Kaj said. "I've never had a rally finish this soon before, although I've had some pretty short tests with some other drivers! You have to expect...

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Raikkonen bullish despite crash

Kimi Raikkonen says he remains committed to a rallying future despite the crash that put him out of the Catalunya Rally before it started.

The Citroen Junior Team driver crashed his C4 WRC on his second run at this morning's shakedown stage in Salou and the scrutineers deemed there was too much damage to the car's roll cage for him to start.

Raikkonen said: "I touched the bank a little bit, the car jumped on the roof and [hit] the bank. It bent the roll cage and that's it. The rules are that we can't start, there's nothing we can do. I think I'll go back to Switzerland now."

Despite having also crashed at the shakedown for Rally Japan, two events ago, Raikkonen said his passion for rallying remained undiminished.

"Okay it has happened two times," he said. "But I knew that [mistakes were possible] before the season. It hurts more that we can't do the rally. And for the team, but there's nothing I can do. It doesn't change anything. I knew it would be difficult. I still enjoy it, I was looking forward to this rally, but it will not happen."

On the subject of whether he will remain at Citroen for next season, he added: "Unfortunately, there's no decision yet. There are some options and, for sure, I have to choose very quickly and choose the right one for myself.

"I haven't done anything yet. I want to find some good way for the future. I have to do it at some point, there's always a timeframe for everything. I hope we get sorted by the end of the season, but I can't promise anything."

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Kimi ready for some Spanish lessons


This weekend, Red Bull driver Kimi Raikkonen will travel from Mexico to Polynesia to China to the Wild West. And he's not even going to leave Spain once.

This geographic miracle is made possible by the fact that the Rally de Espana, also known to fans as the Catalunya Rally, is based in the Port Aventura theme park: Europe's answer to the famous Universal Studios in America. All these exotic regions of the world are represented in the park, thanks to stomach-churning rides such as the Grand Canyon Rapids, Furius Baco (the fastest rollercoaster in Europe with a top speed of 135kph) and the Dragon Khan (another rollercoaster, this time featuring eight inversions). Hold onto your paella...

Kimi's rally diet will be equally mixed, because the Rally de Espana takes in both asphalt and gravel surfaces this year. On Friday, the drivers will compete on gravel roads, whereas on Saturday and Sunday the surface will be the more typical fast and flowing asphalt that Spain's round of the World Rally Championship is famous for.

It is often said that the Catalunya Rally is the closest that world rallying comes to circuit racing. Kimi, knows a few things about racing thanks to his 18 Grand Prix wins, does not entirely agree. But like most of the events this year, it will be a brand new experience for the 'ice man'. So what does he think?

"I don't know the rally at all, but the route doesn't look like any race circuit I've ever seen, although I've heard some people say it's similar!" he joked before starting the recce. "This year it's going to be completely different too as the first day is gravel. But I think it's quite nice to have the variety on this event, even though gravel is not our strongest surface. In the end we'll just do our best and try not to make any mistakes, which has been our goal since the start of the year. It should be a very interesting rally that teaches us a lot, but I don't think we should have expectations that are too high. If we can be near the top six then that would be great, but the main is just to get to the end. If you go like crazy on the first day and go off, then you don't learn anything. And that's why I'm here: to learn."

Kaj Lindstrom, the man who reads Kimi his notes, has plenty of experience to pass on in Spain. But as Kaj points out, Kimi has been pretty good at teaching himself too. "Kimi's obviously been used to winning in Formula ...

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