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In
Turkey, Kimi Raikkonen led from start to finish. At the beginning,
he briefly lost the lead but the flying Finn soon took it back.
Conditions
were hot, but not as hot as people expected, and although it was
Kimi's first time there he put on a dominant performance to win in
Istanbul. Victory for Raikkonen!
Actually,
what we are talking about here is not the second day of the Rally
of Turkey, which came to a close this evening, but Kimi's win at
the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix in 2005.
The
Iceman's memorable Formula One victory in Turkey was the sixth out
of his 18 Grand Prix successes, on a circuit that coincidentally
runs right next to the Rally of Turkey route this year. The second
day of the rally may not have concluded with champagne for Kimi
- particularly as there is another full day of driving to tackle
tomorrow - but he was still on sparkling form from start to
finish.
In
fact, his faultless performance on the second challenging day of
the Rally of Turkey was probably just as much of a success as his
triumph on the Istanbul Park circuit just under five years ago.
For
someone who has completed just two World Championship rallies in a
World Rally Car, Kimi's progress was nothing short of astonishing.
Starting the day eighth, he ended up sixth.
"You
can't compare the Turkish Grand Prix with the Rally of Turkey
because they are so different, but for me, the rally is definitely
more difficult," said Kimi, cutting a cool figure in the
service park with his Red Bull cap and trademark sunglasses.
"This takes just as much concentration as winning a Grand
Prix; in fact maybe more as so many things are new to me. But
today was a really good day. We were able to set times that were
closer to the guys in front and that's the main thing. What I'm
really pleased about is that we could do it without taking big
risks. Let's see what happens tomorrow but for now it's going
really well and I'm feeling comfortable."
Co-driver
Kaj Lindstrom has less experience of winning Grands Prix, but he
still knows a good performance when he sees one. "I'd say
that today is the best time that myself and Kimi have had in a
rally car together so far," he said. "It comes from a
lot of things: more time in the car, more confidence, and more
practice with the pace notes. Put all those things together and
you end up with a pretty good performance, which is what we saw
today."
Back
to leg 2: Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström started the day in
eighth place and used the first loop of stages to move up the
leaderboard. By the end of SS10, the former F1 World Champion was
already sixth overall.”
“The
Citroën C4 WRC always feels easy to drive,” said the Finn.
“On the asphalt I was maybe a little too careful until I
realised how much grip was available. I’m pleased with our pace:
it was a good day without the slightest problem. The only thing
was that I stalled twice in the same place on each of the loops of
stages. We improved our pace in the afternoon. Tomorrow will be a
new day where we will try to keep our position to the end.”
|
P
|
Driver
|
Car
|
Time
|
Gap
|
SS
|
| 1 |
S.
Loeb |
Citroën |
2:19:13.5 |
|
17 |
| 2 |
P.
Solberg |
Citroën |
2:19:29.7 |
+
16.2 |
17 |
| 3 |
M.
Hirvonen |
Ford |
2:19:30.8 |
+
17.3 |
17 |
| 4 |
D.
Sordo |
Citroën |
2:19:35.9 |
+
22.4 |
17 |
| 5 |
S.
Ogier |
Citroën |
2:22:34.5 |
+
3:21.0 |
17 |
| 6 |
K.
Räikkönen |
Citroën |
2:23:51.0 |
+
4:37.5 |
17 |
| 7 |
F.
Villagra |
Ford |
2:24:23.6 |
+
5:10.1 |
17 |
| 8 |
M.
Wilson |
Ford |
2:25:30.1 |
+
6:16.6 |
17 |
| 9 |
O.
Tanak |
Mitsubishi |
2:33:47.1 |
+
14:33.6 |
17 |
| 10 |
D.
Kuipers |
Ford |
2:36:29.7 |
+
17:16.2 |
17 |
|