Ferrari Formula 1 ace Kimi Räikkönen has turned his attention to wheelmanship of a different kind, entering the Arctic Lapland Rally in a Grande Punto Abarth S2000; the 29-year-old Finn will sit alongside experienced co-driver Kaj Lindstöm. Photo: Factory-run Grande Punto Abarth S2000 seen in pre Monte Carlo Rally testing last month. Raikkonen dropped in on the Abarth factory team on the Rally du Valais, the penultimate round of the 2008 IRC, and tried out the cockpit of fellow Finn Anton Alén's Grande Punto Abarth. Raikkonen's championship defence in 2008 (above during the Brazilian Grand Prix) proved less successful, the Finn continued to demonstrate his status as one of the fastest drivers in Formula 1 with a string of fastest laps.

Ferrari Formula 1 ace Kimi Räikkönen has turned his attention to wheelmanship of a different kind, entering the this month's Arctic Lapland Rally in a Grande Punto Abarth S2000. The 29-year-old Finn will sit alongside experienced co-driver Kaj Lindstöm, who won the Rallye Monte Carlo alongside Tommi Mäkinen in 2002, when the Abarth takes to the starting ramp on January 22.

Based in Rovaniemi, right in the heart of the Arctic Circle, the Arctic Lapland Rally marks the opening round of the Finnish Rally Championship.  It has been run for 44 years, and is sometimes used as a test for the winter rallies in the WRC. Previous winners include former WRC champions Marcus Grönholm, Tommi Mäkinen and Hannu Mikkola.

Kimi is understood to own the Abarth with which he is competing in the event. His elder brother Rami is a rally driver in Finland, and the car may thus find itself seeing more regular use in the Finnish championship at a later date.

Räikkönen is not the only ex-Formula 1 Finn to have entered the event. Formula 1 champion in 1998 and 1999, Mika Häkkinen, is also a big rally enthusiast and has competed in the arctic event in 2003, 2004 and 2006.  This year he will drive a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, co-driven by Ilkka Kivimäki – former co-driver to Fiat-Lancia legend Markku Alén. Other prominent names also include former Ferrari F1 driver Mika Salo, who is entered in another Mitsubishi Lancer, JJ Lehto, former works rally drivers Janne Tuohino and Kristian Sohlberg, and Michał Sołowow and Maciej Baran in their Peugeot 207 S2000.

The Fiat group has enjoyed previous success on this event, with Marcus Grönholm’s father Ulf taking victory for the Italian marque in 1981, and the Lancia Delta integrale recording two wins in 1989 and 1990, first in the hands of later four-time world champion Tommi Mäkinen and then Antero Laine.

Räikkönen has long been a fan of rallying and has indicated that he will tackle more events once his Formula 1 career is over. Born October 17, 1979 in Espoo, Finland, he finished runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship in 2003 and 2005 for Team McLaren-Mercedes, before signing a three-year deal with Ferrari, from the 2007 season onwards. He is married to Finnish model Jenni Dahlman-Räikkönen.

Räikkönen had a long line of success in karting from the age of ten, including placing second in the 1999 European Formula Super A championship. He also competed that year in the Formula Ford Euro Cup, and by the age of twenty, he had won the British Formula Renault Winter series, winning the first four races of the year. In 2000, he dominated the Formula Renault UK Championship, where he won seven of ten events. After racing in the Formula Renault series later in 2000, Räikkönen had won an astounding 13 of 23 events – a 56% win rate.

Peter Sauber was so impressed that he gave the Finn a test with the Sauber Formula One team in September of 2000. After further tests in Jerez and Barcelona, Sauber signed Räikkönen for the 2001 season. However, some critics (including FIA president Max Mosley) voiced concerns over granting an F1 super license to such an inexperienced driver, having only 23 racing events to his credit; he was nevertheless granted a super license, and silenced his critics by scoring a championship point in Australia, his maiden Grand Prix.

Far from being the hazard that some people expected him to be, Räikkönen was very calm, cool, and calculating in his race strategy – prompting former critics to nickname him ‘the Iceman’. He had a solid debut year, proving he was indeed ready for the big time of Formula One. He finished the season with four points-scoring finishes, with eight finishes in the top eight. Completing the year with 9 points, Räikkönen, along with teammate and fellow prospect Nick Heidfeld (12 points), helped Team Sauber to its highest ever result: fourth place in the constructors’ championship. Räikkönen, long rumoured to be linked to a future Ferrari deal, instead sufficiently impressed McLaren, earning a race seat on Ron Dennis’s team for 2002, taking the seat left vacant by double-world champion (and fellow Finn) Mika Häkkinen’s retirement.

However, despite some success, the championship proved elusive. He thus switched to Scuderia Ferrari for 2007 and, in a thrilling championship decider at the final round at Interlagos in Brazil, claimed victory in the race, and the championship, by a single point from McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Although his championship defence in 2008 proved less successful, the Finn continued to demonstrate his status as one of the fastest drivers in Formula 1 with a string of fastest laps.

Meanwhile the Scuderia have been happy to give Räikkönen permission to enter the rally, and the subject was raised by journalists at the launch of its new 2009 Formula 1 car, the F60, which took place yesterday at Mugello. "Traditionally we always have a very open relationship with our drivers; we were criticised when Michael Schumacher played football on the race weekends," said Team Principal Stefano Domenicali. "Letting Kimi drive a two-day rally is the same approach. We consider it two days of tests for him, although it's not Formula 1."

by Shant Fabricatorian