Raikkonen Completes First Test with Citroen C4 WRC

Kimi Raikkonen finally proceeded to his very first test of a world rally car with Citroen, jumping at the wheel of a Citroen C4 WRC on a gravel test track near the team's base at Satory, France. The Finn did an overall 50 kilometers with the C4 and admitted he enjoyed it very much.

“I very much enjoyed meeting the team properly for the first time. It was good to try out a few different things; I was very interested to see how the car reacted when you changed some of the settings. Now I'm really keen to get back behind the wheel of the C4 again,” said Raikkonen after the test.

While completing the first test for Citroen since signing the deal with its Junior Team for the entire 2010 campaign, Raikkonen also did his first outing on a full-spec WRC car. In the past, he used to race on a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000-spec car, which he used in both national Finnish/Italian events and in his first ever outing in the WRC (last year's Rally Finland).

This was his first and last test of the C4 before his first official outing of the new season, which will not happen however in the WRC. As a preparation for Rally Sweden in mid-February – where he'll most likely tackle snow/icy stages – Raikkonen is scheduled to take part in the Arctic Rally in his home country Finland.

There, he may battle his former F1 colleague Heikki Kovalainen, who was also rumored to compete in the Arctic Rally (scheduled for January 28) on board of a Proton Satria Neo S2000. However, these rumors appeared only when Kovalainen signed his F1 deal with Lotus F1 Team, as the Malaysian company currently owns Lotus Cars.