Raikkonen to contest majority of 2011 WRC

Raikkonen to contest majority of 2011 WRC

Former Grand Prix World Champion Kimi Raikkonen “will definitely be racing” this year on the World Rally Championship according to his management who have scotched rumours of the Finn’s retirement from the sport.

The Finn has yet to formally announce a programme for 2011 but his management team say that they are confident he will be out on the majority of the rallies this year, at the wheel of a Citroen DS3 WRC.

Raikkonen has lodged an entry on this year’s World Championship under the ICE 1 Racing banner, and he is likely to compete on at least 10 of this year’s 13 rounds, with funding from private sponsors.

His manager Steve Robertson commented: “Kimi will definitely be out racing this year. The stories that say he won’t be doing anything are very much wide of the mark. But with his limited experience, it may be better for him to do some additional testing while the others are competing.”

In order to contain costs, Raikkonen is likely to give the long-haul events that are not likely to form part of the World Rally Championship in future a miss this year. While the Finn is not ruling out a return to Formula One in 2012 he admitted that it would be much harder to return to Grand Prix racing after taking two years off.

“It’s not impossible, but it certainly makes it harder to go back, the longer you leave it,” said Raikkonen. “If I missed Formula One I would have gone back, but in fact I haven’t missed it at all.”

Rally Sweden, which opens this World Rally Championship from 11-13 February, will mark the first time that Raikkonen takes part on an event in a factory World Rally Car for the second time.

Fonte: wrc.com

Bom, ainda não sabemos oficialmente quais serão os ralis em que Kimi vai correr, uma vez que ele ainda não anunciou seu programa de 2011, mas o que importa é que ele estará lá!

Beijinhos, Ludy