Raikkonen happy with progress so far

Kimi Raikkonen says he is pleased with the progress he is making aboard his Citroen DS3 WRC - despite driving the car in untested conditions yesterday.

The Finn drove a World Rally Car on a WRC event for the first time in Sweden last season and the ex-Formula One world champion admits he has come a long way in the last 12 months.

“My aim is the same as last year, we are driving in the same way and we’re trying to achieve the same thing,” said Raikkonen. “I want to get to know the car more. Still, at the moment, the car is capable of going faster than I am driving it, but we only had one day to test it and this will take more time. I tested for a day, but not in the conditions which we had yesterday morning, with the deeper snow - we tested in icier roads.”

Raikkonen is lying in ninth place, more than four minutes off the leader as the event closes on its halfway point.

His only problems so far have been a spin on SS2 and a puncture on the penultimate stage of day one.

“I touched the snowbank and the car turned around,” said the ICE 1 Racing driver. “But it was nice not to be digging this year like I was when I went off last year!”

Raikkonen’s co-driver Kaj Lindstrom admitted he has been impressed with what he has seen on their first return to a WRC round in a World Rally Car.

“It’s been a year, or almost a year, that he has been driving and the improvements have come, he’s driving very well.”