Raikkonen Gets WRC Offers from Solberg, Citroen

Kimi Raikkonen

Now that he made it very clear that he leaves the entire 2010 open for new motor racing challenges outside of Formula One, Finnish champion Kimi Raikkonen seems to receive plenty of offers for a part-time campaign in the World Rally Championship.

Mainly for marketing reasons but also because the Finn has proved himself during the Rally Finland a few months ago, it seems that Norwegian WRC champion Petter Solberg has already made Kimi an offer for next year. Although he barely found a Citroen C4 WRC drive of his own for next season, Solberg looks ready to field a second drive in 2010 and sees Raikkonen as the perfect teammate.

We'd argue that this is a great call from Solberg, as Raikkonen's presence in his team would bring a considerable amount of sponsorship money throughout the 2010 WRC season. In addition, Raikkonen is not such a bad rally driver after all, as he showed good speed despite his crash in his home rally this year.

However, the news was not officially confirmed by either of the two parties, as it was only revealed by Finland's Helsingin Sanomat newspaper.

In addition to Solberg's offer, however, stands a part-time schedule from Citroen. The French manufacturer is allegedly interested in handing the F1 ace a rally-winning Citroen C4, as reported by both the Spanish media (Diario AS) and France's Auto Hebdo.

According to this latest report, the fact that Raikkonen is sponsored by Red Bull energy drink – the French team's sponsor in the WRC – may smooth the deal for the 2010 season.