Rally: Kimi Raikkonen confirms Arctic warm-up in Citroen C4

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From www.wrc.com

World Rally Championship convert Kimi Raikkonen will make his competitive debut in a Citroen C4 on January's Arctic Lapland Rally - a fortnight before his 2010 World Rally Championship campaign kicks off in Sweden.

Based from Rovaniemi, on the edge of the Arctic Circle, the event, the opening round of the Finnish championship, has been run for 45 years and is sometimes used as a test for the winter rallies in the WRC. Previous winners include former WRC champions Marcus Gronholm, Tommi Makinen and Hannu Mikkola.


Raikkonen made his rally debut on the snowy event earlier this year, finishing 13th in a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 co-driven by Kaj Lindstrom. The pair will tackle next year's edition, which starts on 29 January, in the same C4 World Rally Car they will use on 12 rounds of the WRC.

Contracted to Ferrari until the end of 2009, Raikkonen is limited in what he can say about his rally programme until the New Year and confirmed the appearance via a statement on his website.

photo: Arctic Lapland Rally