30th June 2009

The next round of the FIA World Rally Championship will see former Formula 1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen make his WRC debut at the Neste Oil Rally Finland (30 July - 2 August).

Kimi will be driving an Abarth Grande Punto, the car he has driven on previous rally outings but never in the WRC, and will see Kaj Lindström act as his co-driver for the rally in the home country of the Formula 1 ace.

Neste Oil Rally Finland has seen an unprecedented amount of interest in 2009 and has attracted a record number of entries - 90 registered crews - to sign up to the rally. That is the highest number so far in any WRC qualifying round this year and equals this season’s record for the number of World Rally Cars taking part.

There are 18 World Rally Cars amongst the entries and 25 different nationalities will be represented in Finland, the country widely regarded as the home of Rallying.

All the current Rally stars will be on show as the battle between championship rivals Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastian Loeb continues to heat up. A surprise addition for home fans is up-and-coming Finn Matti Rantanen, who has been nominated as a points-scoring driver for Munchi’s Ford WRT. Rantanen will be driving a Ford Focus WRC.

Simon Long, ISC CEO, said: “I’ve said before that the WRC is built on heroes and iconic figures - and they don’t come any bigger than Kimi Raikkonen. “It’s superb news for the Championship and hugely exciting that he’ll be competing at Rally Finland.”

Source - Ferrari Press Release

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation