On the bright side of the rally, Petter Solberg holds the lead after the first day with around 15 seconds over Citroen Junior driver Sebastien Ogier. Will we see Petter winning a rally for the first time in many years? That would be amazing!

Here is Kimi’s off:

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Thanks to motorstvfrance for the video.

PG Andersson on the Friday's super special stage. Nobody in the class had a chance to really challenge PG during the rally. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén

So, I went to Rally Sweden. Actually it was the first WRC rally I have visited without working in one way or another since Rally Sweden 2005. And it was amazing!!!

Here are a few reflections from the rally:

• Petter Solberg was mentally stuck in his pre-rally business. He surprised with a silly mistake already on the super special stage and he continued to do them throughout the weekend. You could virtually hear where it all was going when Petter talked to the Swedish Radio early on Friday and started to talk about his mistake without even being asked. That’s not really the mental approach you need… I had high hopes on Petter for this season – and I hope he can be better prepared and repair the impression in Mexico.
• PG Andersson – give that man a works seat, now! He punished well-established drivers in better cars last year in the Fabia WRC and this year he totally undressed his competitors in the S-WRC class. Unfortunately, not results and neither Star of the Rally-awards can be used to pay bills. PG knows that for sure, and I’m afraid his Swedish fans will have to learn it if they don’t already know. However, I hope PG is lucky and that this opens up some eyes for the rest of the season and 2011!
• Patrik Sandell failed to stand the competition of PG Andersson when given the same car. I’m afraid I can’t say this surprised me – but it’s disappointing to see considering that Sandell has one year experience with the car and two years experience of S2000 compared to PG that sat in the car first time just days before the rally. Sandell’s comments during the rally started to sound very much like excuses – and what else could he say? However, afterwards he has paid his respect to PG’s impressive driving and that’s the kind of sportsmanship I like!
• Patrik Flodin did what he was supposed to do and just delivered – but got totally placed in the shadows by the new S2000 class and PG’s drive. He would have needed a real PR boost – but at least it looks like the winds are warmer back in Russia at the Uspenskiy team. Maybe Flodin can get a few drives or perhaps even the whole PWRC championship this year?

• Kimi Räikkönen and media… Ok – the guy isn’t really a media whore, but honestly… It’s Kimi Räikkönen, what did you expect? And at the same time it’s his personality. Isn’t a little bit about the media interest in Kimi also the interest in the shy, airy Kimi that you can hardly get to speak at all?! I think so, and I think that even a quiet Kimi is a huge boost for the WRC. Just let the guy be and suddenly he will talk…
• Kimi Räikkönen and rally driving… I don’t understand how people can be so disappointed!? After just a few rallies in his career and the second ever WRC rally – what results can you expect? I’m impressed that Kimi reached the finish, considering that he attacked quite OK. Posting multiple stage times withing the top 8 must be considered good for a newbie, no matter how talented he is. I have high hopes for Kimi’s driving!

• Mikko Hirvonen showed that he wants to challenge for the win this year. I hope and actually I also think that he will be up for the challenge this year and able to match Loeb in the charge for the title. He was really close last year and I don’t know if he will make it this year – but I think it will be close. And honestly… How fun wouldn’t it be with a new champion? Mikko has grown from silly mistakes in Subaru in 2004 to a mature driver. He really proved it by taking his own, gambling decisions regarding the setup of the car during the rally. Go Mikko!

• The surface discussion was just ridiculous. Paid drivers complaining about some frozen gravel and even saying it’s not winter conditions?!?! Nothing can be more stupid. This winter has been the coldest since 1986 or more in Sweden and we’ve had snow and sub-zero temperatures since early December in the rally area. Drivers complain because they want easy driving, but as spectators we want difficult driving! What should the WRC really be about if not difficulties?? The team managers understand it, at least, since they say Rally Sweden must stay in the calendar. It was pure winter conditions this year and the drivers just have to accept that winter isn’t synonymous with ice. On top of that the conditions were just perfect for spectators and TV – that in numbers represent the number of competitors multiplied by thousands…

• The media coverage sucked – as we’re used to with North One Sport. The WRC season opener are oceans away from the live coverage of the IRC season opener. Of course it’s difficult – but guys, you need to try at least! Why wasn’t all the super specials and sprints live covered on the web, as well as the Värmullsåsen stage (that was live in Swedish TV)? That should be a piece of cake, at least compared to airing a whole rally live. When will North One start to deliver???
• The Abu Dhabi people indicated that they may need to get better both in understanding rally and in writing press releases. To talk about PG Andersson’s performance as a result of local knowledge and home support sounds more like an insult than an award to me considering his earlier performances on the international arena?! His two J-WRC titles and his performance in the lousy Suzuki SX4WRC in 2008 is good proof that this isn’t about being some kind of snow expert. PG Andersson is one of the world’s best drivers, and to not give him that recognition cannot be called an award.
• The Rally Sweden organisers have had a really hard time almost totally out of money. They had some luck with the weather, but they also managed to do a really good rally despite the resources that has been a lot more limited than ever before (in “modern time”). World class!

The junction where a LOT of people went off (a bit into the movie):

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Hirvonen and Loeb challenging on Colin’s Crest (Vargåsen):

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Kimi Räikkönen crashing on Sågen:

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Stunning onboard with Mikko Hirvonen on Vargåsen:

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First day video:

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Second day video:

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Third day video:

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Thanks to eslake123, MadCowYuuko, TwitChii, Sdimm, nedbis and milkowsky for the videos.

Source: VF

Kimi Räikkönen, day 1:

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Kimi Räikkönen, day 2:

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Kimi Räikkönen, on-board showing Kimi’s C4WRC after his accident on SS2:

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Thanks to Ludtati for all the videos.

Räikkönen’s experienced co-driver Kaj Lindström commented after SS9 that the difference to Sordo was 0.9 seconds per kilometer, and at the same time stated that the duo knew they were going slowed than they could – partly because the car setting still wasn’t 100% adapted to Räikkönen’s preferences. Even Kimi himself said at the that he didn’t think it would be very difficult to drive faster, since he knew that the car wasn’t really as he wanted it to be.

Personally, I think Räikkönen got a good and really impressive start. An early off was probably just good for him, since that showed him exactly were the limit was and it also took the overall placement totally off his shoulders. With nothing to fight for in the rally, Kimi could put his focus just on improving his own driving and the car while still having the possibility to compare himself to others, stage by stage.

What I doubt a little bit more is the easiness of going faster. Kimi seems perfectly comfortable by being slower as he knows it’s “the car settings’ fault”. That’s probably perfectly true, but that’s also half the challenge in rallying. You must get a good setup of the car that works from stage to stage. Of course F1 is also much about fine tuning of car settings, but the conditions there are often a little bit more stable. In rallying you’re driving for a longer time and over longer distances, and conditions may vary much or extremely much (Rally Monte Carlo is the perfect example). That’s a part of the challenge and shouldn’t be underestimated.

However, to sum it up I’m really impressed by Kimi’s performance – and it will be a big pleasure to see his developments throughout the season. Go Kimi!

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Besides that, there are now quite a few clips flourishing of his tests with Citroen. His first test in France is available on the website, or in this YouTube video:

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Here are also some new stuff from Kimi’s tests in Finland this week:

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Thanks to Iceman Media, KimiF1st and MadCowYuuko for the clips. I guess more will follow, but the best way if you wanna keep track of everything is to do a YouTube search yourself…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to amjayes for the video.

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Thanks to ludtati for the video.

Kimi Räikkönen, Citroen C4WRC, Photo: Citroen

Kimi Räikkönen did his first Citroen C4 WRC tests yesterday in Citroens test track outside their factory in Satory, France. The test covered around 50km’s and was successful. Afterwards, Räikkönen talked to Autosport and told that he enjoyed meeting the team. He also stated he wants to get back in the car soon:

- It was good to try out a few different things; I was very interested to see how the car reacted when you changed some of the settings. Now I’m really keen to get back behind the wheel of the C4 again, Räikkönen said.

The good thing for Räikkönen then is that his competitive debut, as known, will be already in the Arctic Rally in Finland later this month – as a preparation for Rally Sweden. I also guess that more tests are planned before that rally.

Kimi Räikkönen in the Citroen C4 WRC, Photo: Citroen

Also S2000 will be interesting to follow, where home ace Patrik Sandell will be hunted by skilled drivers as Mikkelsen, Brynhildsen, Prokop and Tuohino. Also Solowow, Sousa and Hunt and heavily experienced home ace Per-Arne Sääv, running on the organizers wild card, are entered in S2000 cars.

My current most interesting list (to be updated, for sure!):

• Loeb vs. Hirvonen + Latvala
• Petter vs. Henning
• How fast can Grönholm and Räikkönen be?
• What happens to the Swede superfight in group N: Andersson + Flodin + Nyman?
• The Super2000 superfight: Sandell vs. Mikkelsen + Brynhildsen + Prokop + Tuohino

Every single one of the points above will probably be world class entertainment – and of course I’ll get back with more comments, interviews etc. related to the entries. This is just the start…!

Read the full entrylist here

Compare the driving styles yourself!

Ken Block, Subaru Impreza, New England Forest Rally 2008, Concord Pond stage, onboard:

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Kimi Räikkönen, Abarth Grande Punto, WRC Rally Finland 2009, Leustu stage, onboard:

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No matter the results, the addition of Ken Block and the Monster WRT is a huge boost for the championship. Ken is a superstar in America, which is a very important market for car manufacturers as well as for most global brands. Rallying has always been seen as a European sport over there (Block also says that himself to USA Today), and with a boosted interest there – doors may open up for wider US TV-coverage, new investors in the sport and a better reputation of the championship world-wide. Also, if Block stays in the championship and if maybe even Pastrana joins, I would be surprised if we didn’t get a US round of the championship within five years.

Besides that, I’m quite sure that the Monster WRT will uppen the level of the marketing and PR connected to the World Rally Championship. I’m not a big fan of many US motorsports, with Nascar as a good example, but the skills in PR and marketing is better in the US than anywhere else. Already today with the launch you can notice that everything is prepared; presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (with a launch clip!), branded clothes and connections to all important sponsors. To underline the difference, just read the main goal of the Monster WRT:

“To become the most visible team in the sport, both through our efforts in racing and creative marketing”

Some people may consider this goal bad as it puts the sports performance a little bit to the side, but hey? Anyone that has been involved in rallying on a higher level knows that the money in the sport (which is necessary for the championship to exist) comes from sponsors that aren’t in the sport just for fun – they wanna make business out of it. So in fact nothing has changed, it’s just a more straightforward way of seeing it.

As a conclusion, I’m really excited to see Block and Räikkönen in the World Rally Championship. Core rally drivers like Sebastien Loeb, Marcus Grönholm and the other guys must exist and will always exist – but to broaden the view and get superstars from other disciplines and championships into the sport will just improve the championship and also create better potential for the core guys to become big stars. With a huge boost in star quality and a new formula (WRC1.6T) coming up for 2011, I  can’t wait to see the future of the World Rally Championship seen over a few years. If you as me, I think it’s brighter than ever!

If it does, I wouldn’t complain… Nothing is better for rallying than stars with already big names entering the sport. However, I think Kovalainen would have to watch out – none of the F1 guys will have an easy ride in a brand new car and in a so different sport. Probably they would both be happy not to be in the same class – so they at least don’t have to be compared to each other…

Besides good tendencies on the coverage, the competition has really seen a boost this year. Of course I’m much thinking of the superb performance of Mikko Hirvonen, who managed to maintain really thrilling competition until the very last round of the WRC. It was quite a few years since we saw that – and no matter what happens in 2010, we know that 2011 will be a hell of a year when all the current drivers will need to adapt to new cars – the WRC1.6T spec.

Also, Petter’s new team has been a great success. He hasn’t been on the top of the podium, but honestly noone expected that – especially not in the Xsara (I’ve written a lot about this, for example: Xsara WRC – Petter’s smart disappointment). But what does that matter? In the media and on the TV coverage, Petter has been a regular and his new team has been a good injection to the championship. I’m the first one to admit I’m impressed by what he has put together!

So, that’s just a few of the highlights in 2009, but to sum it up everybody expected a middle-year – and in many aspects it was. But it was also a starting point where the championship reached it’s bottom somewhere in the shift 2008-2009, and then a lot of good things started to happen.

For 2010 I’m looking forward to having Kimi Räikkönen in rallying. Of course he will struggle a bit before he starts to set really decent results, but his star-quality is exactly what the WRC needs. We must admit that even if Loeb may be the best driver in the world to us, a Formula 1 driver attracts 10 times the coverage. Let’s hope that Kimi succeeds to such an amount that he decides to stay in rallying. Actually, I’d be surprised if we wouldn’t see him back in 2011…

In 2010, we will also see the comeback of Marcus Grönholm for a one time outing in Sweden – that will rock. Added to that, FIA has started the S-WRC championship for Super2000 cars. I guess this isn’t ground-breaking, but it’s a good thing to help some drivers keep their names up until 2011 – when they can compete (with money and skills) about a WRC1.6T seat. At the same time, IRC will probably go for a new all time high this year, as I’m sure many drivers will take the chance to do the same thing there.

Well, that’s a few good points looking back at 2009 and forward to 2010. I’ve left a lot out, I know that, so feel free to add your highlights and thoughts in the comments. As always, it’s much about money. We need to get even the good drivers into the WRC1.6T in 2011, not just the rich ones. All kinds of coverage must get better, and let’s hope that we get to see effects such as the Meeke-effect in GB after his superb IRC performance in more countries.  In total, I think a lot of steps has been taken this year to allow for that. 2010 may be the second year-in-between and a start of the climb up, so let’s use it to start even more good things to make the sport better. I think the future of rallying is bright, and it will start for real in 2011…

See some nice clips of Räikkönen (made by Kimismely) in his Punto here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Besides the entry of Kimi, Mika Häkkinen is supposed to do his third start in the rally.