Kimi Raikkonen has said that he his delighted to be back competing in the World Rally Championship after missing the last two events but conceded he will face a tough test when he competes on the Acropolis Rally for the first time.
The ex-Formula One world champion will take part on the gruelling gravel event in his Ice 1 Racing Citroen DS3 WRC with co-driver Kaj Lindstrom. Raikkonen was still driving for Ferrari in Formula One grands prix when Greece last hosted a round of the WRC in 2009.
“It’s nice to get back in a rally but the stages look quite difficult, especially for the first time but we’ll see how it goes,” said the 31-year-old. “It’s a new place with new stages - that’s the most difficult thing for us.”
Asked what result he was aiming for in Greece, Raikkonen said: “This rally will be difficult for the first time but all the time we improve and it’s got better. I don’t expect to be as strong as the last rally [in Jordan] here because it’s a new place but it’s nice to get back driving again.”
Like his rivals, Raikkonen faces the prospect of tackling Friday’s six stages with only a remote service halt to make any repairs. However, he is determined not to let that fact play on his mind when the event’s first stage goes live at 09:08hrs local time on Friday.
“We do the best we can,” he said. “If something happens we try to fix it. I don’t worry about it. If you can fix [any problems] you always try but it really depends on what happens to the car and if it happens. It’s more the luck if something breaks or not breaks. If it happens you try to deal with it. Hopefully we can run without any problems but the car has been working well on all the rallies so I am not really worried about something going wrong.”