Kimi Raikkonen's progress in the WRC

Kimi Hits The Tarmac

The upcoming Rally Bulgaria is going to be a big event for Kimi Raikkonen. It will be the first tarmac round of the WRC that Kimi has started and the former F1 champion is expected to feature strongly.

Raikkonen has been making solid progress in 2010 as a WRC rookie and is likely to be more competitive on a familiar surface.

The popular Fin drives for the Citroen Junior Team, effectively the WRC version of Scuderia Toro Rosso. The team has provided a good environment for Kimi to develop his rally skills since he has access to a championship winning car, but without any of the pressure that comes with representing a factory squad. His best result so far has been an impressive fifth place in Rally Turkey.

Although Raikkonen has driven well for a novice, there is no avoiding the fact he has been comprehensively outperformed by his younger teammate, Sebastian Ogier.

After a string of great results, Ogier is now fighting for the world title. He has led each of the last three rallies, winning in Portugal, and is on 88 points to Raikkonen's 15. Due to his recent success, Ogier will be promoted into the Citroen factory team for a few selected events later this year.

There is no doubting that Ogier is a far more complete rally driver than Raikkonen, but Kimi should not be disheartened by his teammates pace.

Last year was Ogier's first with the Citroen Junior Team and he had a relatively similar start to Raikkonen. He scored three top ten finishes in his first six races, the same as Kimi, and his best result was sixth in contrast to Raikkonen's fifth. Although a direct comparison between the two is not entirely fair, it's worth noting that Ogier became more competitive with the team as he gained experience, and there are indications that Raikkonen will do the same.

In the recent non-championship Rally Lanterna, held completely on asphalt, Raikkonen finished just 5 seconds behind the winner (Ogier) and two minutes ahead of the next WRC car in third. He led the rally after the early stages and defended first place until the very last stage when he was pipped at the post by his teammate. Kimi was right on the winning pace throughout the rally, and that's great news with four tarmac events in the remaining seven WRC rounds.

Even if Kimi isn't in the hunt for solid points during Rally Bulgaria, he will be learning plenty for the remaining asphalt rallies.

Although Kimi is being outperformed by his teammate, and is only scoring minor points in a very fast car, he is a rookie driver and is improving enormously. Most of Raikkonen's competitors in the WRC have been rallying their whole lives so Raikkonen is doing well to compete against them with so little experience.

No driver has ever won a Grand Prix and a World Championship Rally. Carlos Reutemann is close to that honour having scored podiums in both series, but Kimi Raikkonen is still on the verge of making history.

Posted by Martin Porter. - Follow him on twitter @mpondaweb.

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