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Kimi
Raikkonen will make his World Rally Championship debut when he
contests his home round of the series, Rally Finland, next month.
Raikkonen
has already competed in three rallies this year, but the
Jyvaskyla-based ninth round of the WRC will be his first
competitive outing on gravel. The Finn, who won the F1 world
championship with Ferrari in 2007, tested the Abarth Grande Punto
for two days in central Finland earlier this week.
Raikkonen
will be co-driven by Kaj Lindstrom, the former co-driver of
four-time world champion Tommi Makinen. Makinen's own racing team
will run the Abarth for Raikkonen.
Lindstrom
has contested Rally Finland 10 times, finishing sixth twice with
Makinen, and admits the 29-year-old Raikkonen will face a
difficult task when he starts his first WRC round.
"Rally
Finland is not going to be easy for sure," said Lindstrom.
"The rallies we have done so far have been smaller events, a
three-day WRC round is much longer and more intense than those
national events. And it doesn't just start with the rally, we have
two days to go through the recce and make the notes. Kimi makes
very good pace notes, but there will be pressure on for the recce."
Lindstrom
added that his driver's absence of gravel experience will also
make his task tougher next month.
"He
has competed on snow and asphalt, but never gravel, but we have
tested on gravel," said Lindstrom. "But one of the
hardest things for Kimi will be the speed of this event. Rally
Finland and the roads used are so fast, like nothing we have done
before - that does take time. But, let's not forget, this guy is a
pretty good driver! He's very talented and I'm sure he will cope
fine."
Raikkonen
finished 13th in the Arctic Rally in January, his rally debut. He
returned to snow rallying and held seventh overall in the Vaakuna
Rally, before putting the Abarth off the road and ending the event
17th. His asphalt debut came on the Rally della Marca in Italy in
May, where he damaged a wheel and retired on the third stage.
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