Kimi Räikkönen shows up for Rally of Finland; Mikko Hirvonen leads after Friday's morning stages

Rally of Finland to remain in WRC calendar for at least five years

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This weekend sees one of the biggest events on the Finnish sporting calendar, the Neste Oil Rally of Finland, one of the twelve competitions in the World Rally Championship.
      Whilst the eyes of the pros and aficionados of the sport may be on the battle between Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) and Finland's Mikko Hirvonen (Ford), who are currently separated at the top of the table by a single point, there was little doubt who stole the attention at a Thursday press conference arranged by FIA in Jyväskylä before the race got under way: former F1 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen.
     
Räikkönen has taken time out from the grand prix circuit (the next race is not until August 23rd) and will be driving a Fiat Grande Punto S2000 as a private entrant.
      Räikkönen, whose future with Ferrari has been much discussed of late, was asked whether he had prepared at all for his first WRC rally and his first experience of driving fast on gravel (no, he hasn't), what his views were on the replacement of his injured Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa by seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher (Räikkönen said it was all one to him who drove the other car but it was nice that Schumi was his team-mate), and also whether he planned to take up rallying as more than a hobby in the future.
     
On this last subject, the 2007 F1 champion deftly dodged around the questions concerning his future with Ferrari, noting that he still had a year to run on his contract, but said that thereafter things were wide open, except that he would not be quitting driving altogether as he was still too young to find himself with nothing to do.
      Räikkönen's ambitions in the Rally of Finland, where he is accompanied by the vastly more experienced Kaj Lindström in the navigator's seat, are quite modest. He hopes to finish the event and dreads the idea of being forced to retire through technical problems.
     
The rally itself began with a special stage on Thursday in which Loeb drew first blood, beating Hirvonen on the circuit around the Killer harness racing track in Jyväskylä by a margin of 0.9 seconds. Hirvonen was third, behind Loeb's Spanish team-mate Daniel Sordo, who was just 0.1 seconds slower than his colleague.
      Friday sees nine stages and will shape the outcome of the event, which ends on Sunday.
     
This season's championship race looked initially like following the pattern of the past several years, in which Loeb has reigned supreme, winning every title since 2004.
      The Frenchman won the first five rallies of 2009 in fine style, and opened up a sizeable lead on the field headed by Mikko Hirvonen.
      However, in the last three competitions he has faltered, and after wins in Poland and Greece Hirvonen edged into a one-point lead with four events still to go.
      Traditionally the Rally of Finland has been a happy hunting-ground for local drivers, but last year Loeb upset the apple-cart by winning here.
     
It is not all about Loeb and Hirvonen or rookie Räikkönen: Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford), winner of this year's Rally d'Italia in Sardinia, will also be eager to show his credentials to a home audience, and the Ford team would like nothing better than for him to finish in front of Loeb and thus reduce the opposition's points total.
     
The Rally of Finland has occasionally been on the danger list for slipping off the annual WRC calendar, but on Thursday a five-year deal was announced by the promoters of the FIA World Rally Championship ISC that should mean the cars are seen in Jyväskylä and the surrounding forests until 2014 at least.
      The motorsport governing body FIA has nevertheless taken a decision to rotate the rallies on the annual circuit, since there are now only 12 races and more than a dozen willing countries wanting to take part.
      This year, for instance, the traditional Monte Carlo and Swedish rallies were among those to be dropped out.
     
     
Update: After four stages on Friday, Mikko Hirvonen held a lead of 3.6 seconds over Sebastien Loeb, with Daniel Sordo third a further 8 seconds back, and Latvala in fourth, 15.6 seconds behind the leader.
      Kimi Räikkonen, meanwhile, looks to be enjoying himself, as he is in a creditable19th place, some 3 minutes behind the pace. Kaj Lindström was full of praise for the driver's performance after a slightly "frosty" start to the morning.
      Hirvonen won the first two special stages of the day, but Loeb struck back and took the next two. It promises to be a closely-fought affair.
      Standings and results can be followed from the WRC site, linked below.


Links:
  World Rally Championship
  Neste Oil Rally of Finland

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