Rally Mexico Preview – Citroën Junior Team set for Mexico debut
ウィンター・コンディションのラリースウェーデンに続き、シトロエンジュニアチームは大陸と路面を変えて、2010年 WRCの最初のグラベルラウンドへ参戦する。オジェ/ジュリアンと、キミ/カイは、2台のC4をドライブする。
2004年にWRCのイベントになったこのイベントは、今年のカレンダーで最も集中したラリー・ルートが特徴である。全長884.58kmのうち、354.60kmで競争的にドライブする。もうひとつの特色は、初日のあるポイント(オルテガ、SS2とSS6)で、出場者がほぼ2800mの高度でドライブすることである。シトロエンは2006年-2008年で3連勝しているが、ラリーメキシコはシトロエンジュニアチームにとって全く新しい経験である。
2年前にWRCにデビューして以来、オジェとジュリアンはポディウムフィニッシュし(昨年ギリシャの2位)、2009年のドライバーズチャンピオンシップで8位を獲得した。スウェーデンでは、彼らは5位を獲得し、数人の地元のスカンジナビアのスペシャリストを破った。メキシコでは、フランス人デュオのターゲットは最低でもその結果と等しいものだろう。
キミ・ライコネンとカイ・リンドストロームは、メキシコのグラベルの上で彼らの学習曲線を続ける。2月にスウェーデンの雪のトラックで行われた彼らの初めてのラリーに続き、フィンランドのクルーは全く異なる路面での新しいチャレンジに直面する。
キミ・ライコネン：ラリーで大好きなところは、全てのタイプの路面でコンペティティヴでなければならないところなんだ。雪の経験のあと、グラベルでのドライビングについて知ることになる。何を期待していいか本当にわからないけど、全てが僕達の学習過程になる。こういうチャレンジングなコンディションでC4をドライブすることをとても楽しみにしているし、より多くの経験を得るために、できるかぎり多くの距離を走りたい。
from kimiraikkonen.com
Following the wintery conditions of the Rally Sweden, the Citro?n Junior
Team now changes continent and surface to contest the first gravel round
of the 2010 FIA World Rally Championship season. S?bastien Ogier/Julien
Ingrassia and Kimi R?kk?nen/Kaj Lindstr?m will drive the team’s two
Citro?n C4 WRCs.
Having appeared on the World Rally Championship for the first time in
2004, the Le-based event features the most concentrated rally route on
the calendar this year. In fact, a full 354.60 kilometres out of a total
route length of only 884.58 kilometres are run competitively. Another
peculiarity of Rally Mexico is that competitors will be driving at an
altitude of almost 2800 metres at one point on the opening day (Ortega,
SS2 and SS6). Citro?n comes into the event fresh from three consecutive
victories in Mexico, between 2006 and 2008. Nonetheless, the Rally
Mexico will be an all-new experience for the Citro?n Junior Team, which
goes there for the first time.
Since making their World Rally Championship debut two years ago,
S?bastien and Julien have climbed onto the overall podium (thanks to
second place in Greece last year) and finished eighth in the 2009 World
Rally Championship for drivers. In Sweden, their fifth place ensured
that they beat several local Scandinavian specialists. So in Mexico, the
French duo’s objective will be to at least equal that result.
Kimi R?kk?nen and Kaj Lindstr?m will continue their learning curve on
the gravel of Mexico. Following their first rally on the snowy tracks of
Sweden in February, the Finnish crew now faces a new challenge on a very
different surface.
“What I love about rallying is that you have to be competitive on all
sorts of different surfaces,” said Kimi. “After my experience on snow,
now I’m going to find out about driving on gravel. I really don’t know
what to expect, but that is all part of our learning process. I’m very
much looking to driving the Citro?n C4 WRC in these challenging
conditions and getting as many kilometres under my belt as I can, in
order to add to my experience.”
NO REVOLUTIONS FOR KIMI IN MEXICO… A PREVIEW.
2010 Rally Mexico – WRC, round 2.Leon, the town where the Rally Mexico is based, produces 60% of Mexico’s shoes.
An interesting fact in itself, but few people realise just how significant shoes have turned out to be in Mexican culture.
The Spanish word for ‘shoe’ is ‘zapato’: something that you will see above the door of every other shop in Leon. And it is surely no co-incidence that another one of Mexico’s most notable exports is the Zapata moustache, favoured initially by revolutionaries and The Village People but now enjoying a small but significant comeback amongst cutting-edge fashionistas. Facial hair has not yet been adopted by the majority of World Rally Championship crews, probably because it is intrinsically un-aerodynamic.
Although Finland is one of the last bastions of the moustache – four-time World Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen had one as his trade-mark – Kimi Raikkonen has no plans to grow one in the near future. Instead, he is concentrating his efforts on Rally Mexico: the second event of his World Rally Championship season with Red Bull.
Thanks its dusty gravel stages, spicy enchiladas, and non-stop Mariachi bands, Mexico could not present a bigger contrast to the opening round in Sweden. But had it not been for a costly excursion into a snowbank on the opening day there, Kimi would have finished comfortably inside the top eight.
“Gravel is the surface that everybody associates with rallying, and of course it is a complete contrast to anything that I experienced in Formula 1,” said the Red Bull driver. “If you are sliding a Formula 1 car, something is going wrong, but in rallying this is something that you do every day. We learned a lot in Sweden and this will certainly help us in Mexico, but effectively we are starting all over again from the beginning now. My approach is going to be exactly the same though: we want to build up our speed at a comfortable pace and above all get to the finish. We managed to get quicker and quicker the last time we were out and this will be the aim for us again in Mexico.”
As is the case on all the rallies apart from Finland this year, Mexico will be a completely new experience for Kimi. However, co-driver Kaj Lindstrom has competed on the Rally Mexico twice already and he hopes to use this experience to help Kimi to make progress.
“Actually, I retired from the rally on both of those previous occasions so I’ve got a point to prove as well!” he said. “But I have a good idea of what we can expect from the Mexican stages. I was really impressed by how much Kimi managed to learn in Sweden, and if we can have the same sort of pace on gravel then I will be very happy. I know how much Kimi is looking forward to this rally and I’m sure he’s going to enjoy every kilometre of it: particularly as the road sections are very short so the action is more or less non-stop!”
