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Raikkonen Will Not Let Go of Rallying in 2009

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen announced he will do some more rallies throughout 2009, despite his crash in the Rally della Marca during the course of last weekend. The Finnish driver has already completed three rally events this year – although the last one ended after the Special Stage 3 – and seems to be getting the hang of it.

Looking forward, yeah, there is a plan. I'd say it's most likely he will do more rallies this year,” said Raikkonen in an interview with the Italian media, soon after leaving the Treviso region this weekend.

The Finnish driver competed on a Tommi Makinen-prepared Fiat Abarth Grande Punto in the aforementioned event – based in Northern Italy – but dove into a rock during SS3, while in 8th place in his class. This was his first rally on tarmac, so nobody pointed any fingers in the garage, as this was supposed to be a learning experience in the first place.

However, as it turned out later on, it seems the crash was not caused by Raikkonen. I mean yeah, it was a handling error, but it was the result of a broken differential that made it impossible for the Fin to keep his car on the road. This was revealed by the 29-year old's co-driver during the past weekend's event, Kaj Lindstrom.

Lindstrom's co-driving years include a partnership with Tommi Makinen back when the Fin was driving for Subaru in the WRC, in the early 2000s.

As for Kimi, the Scuderia issued no statement regarding his rally outing the past weekend, which may very well mean that they're still OK with their driver's hobby. Needless to say, Raikkonen did not sustain any injuries during the crash – as is was a minor incident – so his presence in the Ferrari cockpit was not endangered in any way.
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