Q & A: Raikkonen on Rally Bulgaria

Q & A: Raikkonen on Rally Bulgaria

By David Evans

Kimi Raikkonen lived up to predictions that he would be more comfortable rallying on asphalt and producing his best World Rally Championship performance so far on day one in Bulgaria - only to crash on the final stage.

He restarted for leg two and afterwards told AUTOSPORT how the day had gone and reflected on his Friday incident.

Q. How was the second day?

Kimi Raikkonen: It was okay. In the morning it was not so much pushing after yesterday. But today, the last two stages this afternoon we pushed harder. The choice of tyres this afternoon wasn't the best choice, but it was okay.

Q. What's the goal for tomorrow?

KR: We will try to make the top 10, but maybe Henning [Solberg] is too far away.

Q. How is the feeling with the car?

KR: It's okay. It's more or less back to where we were yesterday, like I said, we attacked in the last two stages.

Q. How hard is it to gain confidence after the crash?

KR: It's not a problem. It was just my mistake, so it's not really like we did something stupid. I was a bit too fast in the braking and couldn't stop - it wasn't anything big. I was just the wrong way 'round [upside down] and in a ditch.

Then I didn't push so much in the morning because I lost, not confidence, but we didn't really have any call [to push]. Then in the afternoon we changed the car a bit, it felt good and the speed was more like yesterday. The soft tyres weren't the best, but it was okay.

Q. Was the car moving about on the soft tyre?

KR: Yes. When they are worn down they are a little bit better, but for sure the hard tyre would have been faster this afternoon. But for us we can try things for the future this afternoon.

Q. Is the car running perfectly after the crash?

KR: Yes, we didn't damage anything on the technical side. It was only the roof and the corner, it's only really the looks - the chassis and everything was completely fine. The wheels were straight, it looked worse than it was.

Q. And before the crash, the two split times were pretty special...

KR: Yes, it was okay, but once you go off you lose a bit. If we hadn't gone off, for sure we would have pushed harder this morning. That happens sometimes when you try to go fast.

Q. You have used more soft tyres than anybody else in this rally, why is that?

KR: We tried it, but it wasn't the best option in the first stage in the second loop yesterday, but then in the second stage it worked quite well. This morning it was wet and we had to use it. This afternoon there was a small chance of rain so we just took it to try how it works, but looking afterwards in this kind of condition the hard tyre works better.

Fonte: autosport.com

Gostei bastante da entrevista. É bom ler estas coisas, entender melhor o que o piloto está pensando, sentindo, como estão as coisas...Depois de ver o vídeo do acidente a gente vê que o erro foi mesmo dele. Mas não tem problema, mesmo fazendo um rali de recuperação Kimi está sempre lá, pertinho dos outros grandes nas especiais disputadas. É bom demais ver que o sucesso no rali para ele é só uma questão de tempo, um passinho de cada vez, mas que ele vai conseguir. Tenho certeza!

Beijinhos, Ice-Ludy