After two months of not competing on gravel, what the drivers need is a good old warm up, and that is what Citroen Junior drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Dani Sordo have been doing.
“The test went really well. And it was great for us to have this experience before starting Rally Finland. Of course it helps a bit that I have done the rally last year, but the World Rally Car is such a step up from the Super 2000 car that it is like driving a completely different rally. We tested everything that we wanted to, and it was also useful to have the experience of preparing pace notes on these fast and technical roads.”
Raikkonen seems to be looking forward to competing on his home event in a top class WRC car.
“I'm really looking forward to Rally Finland: as a Grand Prix driver I never really got the chance to compete in the top class at home before, so I think that it's going to be a lot of fun. We made a few adjustments to the car during the test but nothing major: I think we are in a good position to start the rally now.” said Raikkonen.
It's been nearly a year since the top rally drivers in the world have seen these extremely fast, flowing and undulating roads, so a small test before the event, to reacquaint the drivers with sixth gear and treble figures on the speedo, would be welcomed.
But Citroen didn't just have the Finnish roads to themselves, because Ford have had their two works drivers out since Wednesday, with Mikko Hirvonen testing on Wednesday and Thursday. Jari-Matti Latvala carried on from Hirvonen, testing today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday).
“It was good to be back in the car again. For us, this was just a general set-up test. We used one of my favourite stages - Ouninpohja - for the first part of the test, this gives a good feeling on the wide fast roads and then we switched to another stage for the next day where we drove some more narrow, technical roads. I did about 500 kilometers.” said Hirvonen.
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