Raikkonen to drive the Arctic rally in a Punto Abarth
Ferrari's Formula One driving aces have a history of branching into other forms of motorsport. Michael Schumacher has tried his hand at motorbike racing with some success, Felipe Massa continues to mount the occasional karting assault, and now Kimi Raikkonen is slated to tackle the Arctic Lapland Rally behind the wheel of an S2000-spec Grande Punto Abarth.
The Arctic Lapland Rally is the opening round in the Finnish Rally Championship, where Raikkonen will put his nickname "Iceman" to the test against a handful of other ex-F1 drivers, including Mika Hakkinen, Mika Salo and JJ Lehto. Veteran rally co-pilot Kaj Lindstrom, who won the Monte Carlo Rally with rally ace Tommi Makinen, will be by his side in Raikkonen's own Abarth, with which we don't doubt his patrons at Fiat had any trouble hooking him up. As for Scuderia Ferrari, they've got no problem with Kimi occasionally moonlighting on the rally circuit, where he said he might move to after retiring from Ferrari's Formula One team. And with Fernando Alonso knocking at Maranello's door for Raikkonen's seat, that could come sooner than expected. We'll be watching to see how the Iceman does on ice when the Arctic Lapland Rally kicks off on January 22.[Source: Italiaspeed]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kattleox 9:10AM (1/16/2009)
Those are all the words I love in one sentence!
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notYou 9:28AM (1/16/2009)
I know nothing about the sport, but I must say "Raikkonen" is the coolest last name. I need to trade mine in...
(assuming it sounds like Harkonnen, but with "Rai-" instead of "Har-")
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bill 10:38AM (1/16/2009)
Any chance Kimi will be wearing a Gorilla suit?
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Mobius_1 10:15AM (1/16/2009)
Snowmobiles not enough for him, I guess. :)
Go Kimi!
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Kyle 1:54PM (1/16/2009)
Go MIKA!
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Rocketboy 2:37PM (1/16/2009)
Lucky!
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