Day Two of Rally Finland saw Kimi Raikkonen move up the field to 15th place but now on the third day he is struggling with the conditions and his car.
After SS13 he commented on the wet weather and a possible developing problem with his Tommi Makinen prepared Fiat Abarth S2000.
“The first stage this morning was very bad for me. It started raining and I could hardly see but it has got better and we make it to Service to make sure the car is OK. There is a problem with the power as it doesn´t start off the line so well.”
After SS15 he commented “We have a problem with the engine now, it is was down on power.”
According to Autosport reports one of the engine’s cylinders has a compression problem and the team is not optimistic about lasting the rest of the rally.
In addition to this there is also a broken shock absorber, a damaged sump guard and a starter motor problem, leading to co-driver Kaj Lindstrom having to push start the car at times.
“It’s a shame, it would be nice to do the rally with the car working all the time,” said Raikkonen. “Every time we come to service something is broken and we can’t fix it perfectly.”
“The engine has been a big problem all day. All the time something is breaking, we’ve had lots of problems on this loop.”
The latest updates after SS16 seems to indicated that Raikkonen wants to go out of the rally with a bang: “We´re just going to keep pushing this engine until it blows as we can´t do too much about it.”
Kaj Lindstrom added: “When the engine problem started in the first loop and got worse in the second we ended up driving one gear lower than we should be to stay fast. It is frustrating that this happens now that Kimi really feels that at ease in the car.”
