Raikkonen's engine gives cause for concern

by - 7/31/2009 08:56:00 p.m.

An engine problem with Kimi Raikkonen's car is threatening to end the F1 star's remarkable WRC debut on Rally Finland.
Raikkonen brought his Abarth Grande Punto S2000 through SS16 in fifteenth place overall, and is placed third in the Group N class, but before heading back to the Service Park the Finn said all was not well with the car.
"We have big problems with the engine - there's no power," explained Kimi. "Also we broke the front suspension when we went too much over a jump and that means we have no damping. We'll try and get the suspension fixed in service but unfortunately I don't think we can do much for the engine. We'll see how long it goes for."
The car made it back to Jyvaskyla, where Raikkonen's co-driver gave a frank mechanical update before checking into the Tommi Makinen Racing service area.
"The engine is about to go," he said. "There's a lack of power and hardly any torque, so we have to use the smaller gears in the corners, that's the biggest problem. It’s not game over just yet, though. There's not much they can do for the engine, we just have to hope it lasts, but there are other jobs to do. We had a big jump in Himos (SS15) and broke the dampers and the sump guard. Hopefully we can get out on the final three stages today - we're looking forward to them." [via rtlbulvar.hu]

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