Quesnel ready to welcome Räikkönen

Kimi Räikkönen is inexorably approaching the WRC. The Finn, after being ousted from Ferrari and having seen the door of McLaren close in Formula 1, is a hair away from being confirmed WRC driver for 2010. Only a possible option Mercedes GP could have made Iceman deviate from his decision, which seems to have sent him into the seat of a Citroën C4 WRC in 2010 to compete in the World Rally Championship.

Questioned on the sidelines of Rally du Var, where Sébastien Loeb, Citroën Racing driver, won, Olivier Quesnel expressed all his admiration towards the Finn. “ He's a great driver and he wasn't world champion by chance. », Confided the director of Citroën Racing to AFP. “ What he did in Finland was astonishing, behind the wheel of an S2000 (Abarth Grande Punto, editor's note). If he comes to the WRC, we will be delighted, and it will also be very good news for rallying in general. »

Olivier Quesnel recognizes that the possible arrival of Kimi Räikkönen in the WRC, two years after the Finn won a world title in F1 with Ferrari, “ would be a nice snub to Formula 1 ". However, the director of Citroën Racing wants to moderate the general enthusiasm, even if the arrival of Iceman in the WRC seems almost inevitable. “ There is nothing signed, I never got Raikkonen on the phone but there is more than a noise, there is a possibility », admits Quesnel.

« In any case it will not be in the official team but in the Junior Team », Continues the boss of Citröen Racing, which goes against information disclosed on Saturday, which placed Kimi Räikkönen as a teammate of the six-time world champion, Sébastien Loeb. However, this pragmatic declaration from the boss of the sports sectors of Peugeot and Citroën shows that the arrival of the Finn already has a predefined pattern. The Finn's decision should be made official in the coming days.