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The Iceman reckons he can turn left betten’ most can. And as such, is heading over to the good ol’ US of A to race in NASCAR.
‘I am excited about getting to know the world of NASCAR. I am 100 per cent sure it will be fun and challenging,’ says 2007 F1 world champion Raikkonen in Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat.
Kimi is apparently set to debut in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in a new team called ICE1 (geddit?), in partnership with Foster Gillet. Should Kimi find a niche in one of North America’s most watched sports, he could move into the Nationwide Series and ultimately the Sprint Cup.
'I know, it's a very tough and open top-racing series,’ says Kimi. 'I just love the American spirit of racing.’
However, financial news provider Bloomberg reckons a deal is still far from done, with Kimi's agent still waiting for 'somebody to come to us with an offer’.
Raikkonen proved his mettle behind the wheel of an F1 car and had an OK year as a WRC driver. And who knows, perhaps the Iceman will get the chance to race in the Top Gear 300...
For more WRC news, head to TopGear.com's dedicated section with the latest coverage from this year's championship
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killem2 commented on this article
at 02:22 pm on 30 March 2011
Yeah americans have such a spirit of racing.... /rollseyes. An I'm american. Sorry driving in a straight line (drag) and turning left (nascar) doesn't really make me think we are the kings of racing spirits.
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shomann commented on this article
at 02:34 pm on 30 March 2011
Hey Killem2, ever heard of IndyCar? There are other options to watch if you didn't know. Half the schedule are road and street courses. So Kimi's going to give NASCAR a try. He'll find out very quickly that it's not as easy as it looks. I'll bet money he'll do worse than Montoya, who had oval experience prior to F1 from his IndyCar days. After several poor outings, he'll give up and go back across the pond with his tail between his legs.
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notthest1g commented on this article
at 03:11 pm on 30 March 2011
NA$CAR only has one spirit anymore, and that's greed. Carbureted V8's are as American as apple pie, yet they want to ditch them for EFI. Most people I know with fully-built V8 race cars run carbureted, and there are still good reasons for that.
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Viking79 commented on this article
at 03:35 pm on 30 March 2011
Oh please no. Don't quit on the WRC (or if you do, go back to F1).
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NobleM600 commented on this article
at 03:56 pm on 30 March 2011
why, i know it's sort of safer but it's easy
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