Oh Kimi!

Lease

This is just plain embarrassing. He's off to NASCAR. The article says 'alongside his rallying commitments', but his results to date indicate that it's a bit more than that.

Even worse, he will be in the truck series first, then moves up. It doesn't say if he moves up to the main game, or the junior grade.

OK, so he can't go back to Euro open wheel, but crikey, there's Indy, DTM, V8 Supercars, etc before you have to stoop to NASCAR.

There should be a law.........

SuperRoo

Ahh, hangin wid da good ol boys from the souf.

They don't take kindly to feriners in these parts...

With Kimi's charisma he should blend right in............NOT

I wonder when kimi last drove a car fitted with a carburetor?.......... or chewed tabacchi.....

He's got buckleys!

manlio27

C'm on, guys,
he's also doing the WRC.
He got what he wanted from F1 and he's just enjoying his life! God bless him!
I would love to see him again in F1, inhis own way, the guy's got much more personality than Vettel, Massa or Button.

Lease

.....in the same way that a speed hump has more peronality than a traffic light.

viges

Macca was close to signing him at the end of '09 but then Jenson became available. When you remember the 'bright young things' from ten years back, Alonso, Button, Montoya and Kimi, it seems such a waste to have lost two of them.

SuperRoo

Kyle Busch Motorsport’s general manager has described Kimi Raikkonen’s performance during his debut test for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team as ‘outstanding.’
Raikkonen has now completed two-days of testing at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Georgia, ahead of his race debut at Charlotte on May 20.
The 2007 Formula One World Champion, and current World Rally Championship driver, reportedly completed 400 laps during the test – getting a feel for the heavy oval-track machine.
“Overall the test went really well,” said KBM general manager Rick Ben.
“We ran about 400 laps total between Monday and Tuesday. Kimi provided good feedback that allowed us to make our Toyota Tundra go faster.
“He is very methodical with his acceleration, braking and steering and there is no doubt that he has a good feel for a race vehicle.
“We threw a lot at him over the two days. We made a lot of chassis changes to both the front and rear.
“Shock adjustments, air pressure adjustments and trackbar adjustments so he could get a good feel for how these adjustments affect the handling of the truck.
“For being unfamiliar with a truck and unfamiliar with the track, he did an outstanding job.
“We made both race runs and qualifying runs and there is no doubt that making the truck go fast will not be a problem.”
Raikkonen, whose deal with KBM does not involve Foster Gilett, son of former Richard Petty Motorsports owner George Gilett, as previous reported, said he enjoyed the test.
“It was a lot of fun, I really had no expectations or anything to compare it to beforehand but at the end of the day, I am really looking forward to the first race,” said Raikkonen.
“It seems like KBM is a top team and I am excited to work with them.”
Raikkonen is not the first ex-Formula One driver to try his hand in NASCAR, with Scott Speed, Nelson Piquet and Narain Karthikeyan among those to have made the move in recent years.

forzaminardi

you make quite a bit of cash in nascar (and you can booze it up with the fans afterwards)

manlio27

Kimi now negotiating with Williams to coem back in 2012 and fight for 12th place on the grid.

Probably tired to be a backdog in WRC, he prefers to be a backdog in F1.

meanwhile, Renault becomes Lotus, Lotus becomes Caterham, and Virgin becomes Marussia.

So, for the second time, bye-bye Renault.

As for the two-Lotuses querelle, it's a bit ridiculouse, IMO. Instead of reviving a glorious name to just spread mud on it (unlike my revivings of old threads)why didn't they just call the teams Saint Anthony or Romeo Beckham?

The reason for Clewlis's nerves recently has finally been explained@ his relationship to Nicole came to an end because they were too far away and did not manage to see enough of each other! Poor little things.

Bernie's dream, meanwhile, is close to being fulfilled: apparently from 2013 there will be a second US race (too much or niothing, so life is) in New Jersey, with NY skyline on the background....

But the only important thing, at the moment, is that TOIT has confirmed Massa for 2012. So, (unless Nicole comes back with Clewlis) Red Bull has won another Constructors' championship.

manlio27

....and instead he goes to Renault. Very curious to see him> might be the right combination at the right time, more probably will be the unglorious end of Kimi's career and at the same time the start of a Williams-trend for Lotus-Renault. Kubica out for 2012 (what a surprise), and Lotus-Renault are not keen on making him test and improve to then see him going to TOIT in 2013.......

Telstar

I did not miss seeing Kimi at post-race interviews. Luckily with Lotus-Renault I doubt we will see him there. Will be interesting to see if he or Lotus-Renault can do anything next year. I'd prefer Kubica to be back.

manlio27

And Kimi's teammate in Lotus in 2012 will be Seb Grosjean. He did not show a great form in 2009 when he replaced Nelsinho in Renault, but that was a very difficult car....at least he should be better than Petrov.....but I repeat, I don't see a great future for this team.

manlio27

Is it possible, seeing the pre-season, that my prediction from December was completely wrong and Kimi just did bingo in joining Renault?