Raikkonen and Hakkinen to enter rally
8 January 2009 by Keith Collantine
F1 champions Kimi Raikkonen and Mika Hakkinen are both expected to take part in Finland’s famous Arctic Lapland Rally later this month.
It is believed that for Ferrari driver Raikkonen’s Arctic rally debut, he will race a Fiat Abarth S2000.
F1’s 1998 and 1999 title winner Hakkinen, meanwhile, who has contested the rally before, will be at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer, Holland’s Blik Op Nieuws publication said.
The rally, part of the Finnish rally championship, takes place between January 22 and 24.
This is a news story from the GMM agency. Looking to trim down your F1 Fanatic feed so you don’t receive news? There’s now a feed that does just that - get the link here.
I will look out for ‘James Hunt’ near the top of the final standings then…what a good bit of news given what happened to Webber in Tazmania. Has anyone told Ferrari?
Great! I hope they show it on telly in the UK…
Good show already. I remember the days when F1 guys drove lots of non-championship events…even F1, and especially sports cars. It was about the driving, and they brought top exposure to any event they entered.
Good for the boys from The-Cold, they know how to have a right decent time.
But they were real men back then, not the spotty schoolboys we’ve got racing now :~)
Good on Kimi, and good on Ferrari for letting him.
I’m sure most fans would like to see the F1 drivers competing in a few other races considering you can’t get anywhere near them at an F1 track.
I have learned to appreciate those tough Finnish drivers.
Funny how your mind work, isn’t it?
When I read the headline, I was absolutely stunned. “Both of them doing a rally? I wonder who’s doing the driving and who’s the navigator? Maybe they’re taking turns . . .”
I wonder how Hakkinen can turn wheel of Mitsubishi. The Organization he is currently contracted with McLaren Mercedes are control freaks when it comes to these matters.
Shouldn’t he be driving a car from their stable
And they call Raikkonen lazy…
… best he doesn’t do a Webber or a Montoya and hurt himself! (keep anyone with a surname ‘Massa’ away from the Service area)
@Alastair -
Motorsports of all sorts is dangerous to start with, and Rally racing is where drivers are racing against the elements, I wonder what does the Ferrari contract with Kimi say about this advendture.
McLaren doesn’t even let LH to participate in RoC and Triathlon
About Montoya incident, is it interesting coincidence that his wife delivered his first son around the time he was away “Injured”. There is more than what meets eye in that story
and knowing how control freak one Mr. Dennis can get, anything is possible….
That would be something to see - both of the ice men on ice as it were.
Doubt we’ll get coverage of it here in Oz - if anyone knows of any websites broadcasting it (that I can actually access) can you shout out?
And Beneboy - aren’t you Australian as well? Have you attended the Melbourne GP? I can give you a little tip on how to meet all of the drivers at Melbourne - I have done so for the past 3 or 4 years.
Do I come across as an Aussie ?
I’m English mate (is it because I say mate a lot ? That’s a Liverpool thing too).
Not that I mind, I’ve got some good friends who are Australian.
Although if this year goes well and my friend and I can save enough money we’re hoping to come over to you next year so I may take you up on your offer. As long as the economy doesn’t go off too much anyway.
I appreciate there’s some places you can meet the drivers at some tracks but as I go to a few bike races most years I’m used to being able to talk to most of the teams riders & engineers, not to mention getting close to the bikes over the weekend.
Rallying is also brilliant for this, you can see the drivers all having a laugh together with the fans and it’s a nice, relaxed atmosphere.
That’s my boy…
Now I just have to persuade him to forgo the gorilla suit….
Does anyone really care about rally stuff anymore? Even their marquee teams are dropping out now.
Ah sorry Beneboy - just got it in mind for some reason that you were a fellow antipodean. Never mind, there are worse things to be mistaken for
Well if you do ever make it to the Oz GP - and it is now contracted until 2015 so you have a few years yet, I can assure you the drivers are readily accessible at the track. And whats more, as its the first race of the season they are not PR’d out so to speak. Even Kimi signs autographs (althought I am yet to see him smile).
I know what you mean re bikes though. And since we have a WRC round this year which I plan on attending, I’ll let you know how I go.
So exciting!!! Not hard to imagine that Luca di Montezemolo would let Kimi participate in a rally event in an Abarth… it should be good PR for Fiat entering the WRC in 2010.