Kimi Raikkonen has concluded a deal that will see him switch from Formula One to the World Rally Championship next season with Citroen.
The 2007 world champion joins the Red Bull Citroen Junior team alongside rising star Sebastien Ogier and his co-driver will again be Kaj Lindstrom.
“I always wanted to compete in rally, especially in the World Rally Championship at some point in my career,” Raikkonen explained. “Thanks to Red Bull, I have the opportunity to drive the best car of the series with the Citroen C4.
“This is a new but very exciting challenge,” the 2007 F1 champion continued. “For the moment we have a one-year contract and we will see how it goes for the future. I am really looking forward to testing the car and taking the start of the first rally.”
Citroen runs two teams in the World Rally Championship. The primary team remains unchanged with multiple champion Sebastien Loeb back for another season and Dani Sordo in the sister C4. Raikkonen joins the ‘Junior’ outfit alongside Ogier.
“We will continue to count on Sebastien and Dani to defend our world titles in 2010, and we will also be prolonging our association with Sebastien Ogier who showed outstanding potential this year,” said Citroen racing director Olivier Quesnel.
“Last but not least, it is with immense joy that we welcome Kimi Raikkonen to our ranks,” he continued. “We are very proud that he has chosen Citroen. In addition to the confirmation of these four crews, we will hopefully be able to announce other programmes over the coming weeks.”
Earlier this year Raikkonen made his WRC debut at Rally Finland, but after a strong run, rolled his Abarth Grande Punto S2000 while running an impressive second in class.
Earl ALEXANDER
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via F1-Live
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