Nascar, a sorpresa un altro test per Kimi–07/04/2011
E a quanto pare, i tempi di questi test sono stati veramente ottimi…
#NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader @KyleBusch says he ran the same times as Kimi Raikkonen @NASCAR_Trucks test
Da http://twitter.com/dcaraviello
Now it’s off to Jordan for Kimi for a World Rally event. Busch said Raikkonen has asked about N’wide and Cup, but no real talks about that.
Kyle Busch said Kimi Raikkonen tested today at Rockingham in the truck. "He ran a lot faster than we expected him to run there," Kyle said.
Raikkonen already thinking beyond Truck Series
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kimi Raikkonen’s first Camping World Truck Series start is still more than a month away, but the former Formula 1 world champion is already thinking about stepping up in class.
Kyle Busch, who owns the truck that Raikkonen will drive in his NASCAR debut May 20 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, said the 2007 F1 champion and current World Rally competitor has expressed an interest in driving in Nationwide and Sprint Cup events as well.
"We haven’t had any discussions on that," Busch said Thursday at Texas Motor Speedway. "He has asked after the Truck debut in Charlotte, which is where our first focus is, kind of evaluating and seeing where he’s at and how he feels and what he wants to do. He has asked about Nationwide and Cup and if Kyle Busch Motorsports could do that, or where would be the best place to do that. Like I said, he wants to reevaluate all that once we get past Charlotte."
Busch, whose two-year-old truck team has struggled to find sponsorship despite its success on the race track, has shown interest in eventually expanding to a Nationwide program. But he’s not sure whether he’d have time to pull together the resources for a potential Raikkonen entry in that series, or would have to procure the equipment from Joe Gibbs Racing, the organization he competes for on the Sprint Cup level.
"We just said we would evaluate," Busch said. "I’ve told everybody here that KBM would like to go to Nationwide, we’d like to have a full-time Nationwide team next year, and work toward that …. If it came to be the right situation and we could get cars built or get cars from JGR, it would all be a telltale thing, so we’ll just have to wait and see. But right now our focus is on Charlotte and the Truck race there, and making sure we get the right stuff under Kimi so he can run well and be good, and get some results and some success."
Toward that end, Raikkonen has tested three days this week in a KBM truck: Monday and Tuesday at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Ga., and Thursday at Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina. The 31-year-old Finland native ran roughly 400 laps at Gresham, focusing the second day on things like caution laps, watching the tachometer lights as he comes down pit road, and coming up through the gears and not spinning the tires on restarts.
"Kimi is a race car driver, so he does know how to drive race cars and drive them well," Busch said. "I wasn’t there until later on in the afternoon of the first day, and got to see it firsthand, and got to get in the truck myself and run some laps to see where I compared to where he was at on tires and stuff, and we ran identical lap times. So he’s right there. He knows what he’s doing."
Busch was even more enthused about the test at Rockingham. "He did good again," he said. "He ran a lot better than we expected him to run there, a lot faster than we expected him to run there. So we’re real happy with it."
Busch said there are a few more things he’d like Raikkonen to work on before the Charlotte truck race, but there likely won’t be enough time. Busch said Raikkonen departed after the Rockingham test for the Middle East nation of Jordan, site of next week’s stop on the World Rally Championship.
Da Nascar.com
[…] After successfully completing the two-day test at the half-mile oval, KBM officials added the one-day test at Rockingham Speedway, a one-mile oval, to allow Raikkonen to experience the feel of a larger and faster track.
“We only ran about 50 laps today because it was obvious that we didn’t need to get much more out of this test,” said KBM crew chief Eric Phillips “The kid definitely knows how to drive.” […]
NASCAR: Räikkönen testing again, could run Cup race at Sonoma
Just two days after saying Kimi Räikkönen’s recent test in Georgia would be his only NASCAR test this spring, Kyle Busch Motorsports sent the ex-Formula One driver to test again, this time at the one-mile, high-banked Rockingham Speedway in the Sandhills region of North Carolina.
Räikkönen, the 2007 F1 world champion and a current World Rally Championship driver, will make his NASCAR debut in the Camping World Truck Series on May 20 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. To prepare for that 200-mile event, KBM had Räikkönen run about 400 laps on Monday and Tuesday at the half-mile, low-banked Gresham Motorsports Park north of Atlanta. At the time, Busch’s staff said it would be Räikkönen’s only test before the Charlotte race.
It’s been suggested that Räikkönen might run not only the Truck Series race at Charlotte, but also the June 26 Sprint Cup road-course race in Sonoma, Calif. He’s allowed to test at Gresham and Rockingham because those tracks don’t host races in any of NASCAR’s top three series.
On Thursday, Todd Hirschfeld of Räikkönen’s organization confirmed the Rockingham test and said, “We are taking this one step at a time regarding any additional races beyond what has been announced.”
Da autoweek.com
Räikkönen’s NASCAR-tests continue on Thursday
The crowned king of track-racing, Kimi Räikkönen, drove for the first time in his life two days on an American oval track and he will continue his adventure by testing Kyle Busch Motosports -team’s Toyota Tundra on Thursday.
Räikkönen circled on Monday and Tuesday 400 times the half mile oval in Gresham. He has now about 320 km experience of the Camping World Truck -car. The laptimes have been solid and the driver’s professionality has now come to its own.
What is driving on ovals like?
– New and different, Räikkönen tells Turun Sanomat shortly not wanting to explain it more.
Räikkönen’s ICE1 Racing -team has leased a truck from the leading KBM-team only for Charlotte’s race on 20th May. According to Kyle Busch they have been negotiating about 3-5 truck-class races with Räikkönen’s representatives.
In practice everything is wide open and Räikkönen’s own feeling will decide how he will start developing his NASCAR-career.
Different setup-work
The first testing session is purely an experiment to understand driving on ovals. To find setups for corners that continuously turn in the same direction on a track with inclination is also very unusual when comparing to European track-classes.
– This offers Kimi an interesting new world and a completely new challenge. The most important thing is now to proceed with patience, Räikkönen’s spokesman Riku Kuvaja said.
– NASCAR is a really huge and very professionally run show, Kuvaja emphasises.
Kyle Busch announced last Saturday in Martinsville Speedway NASCAR-race that he has done a deal with Räikkönen’s ICE1 Racing over a selected race schedule in Camping World Truck Series.
Rally notes already on Monday
After the tests are over Räikkönen will return to Europe and go to the Middle-East because Jordan’s WRC-rally is next week. He starts making pace notes on Monday, the rally takes off on Wednesday and ends on Saturday.
After Jordan Räikkönen skips Sardinia’s and Argentina’s rallies. This way he has time to concentrate on his NASCAR-debut.
Turun Sanomat
HEIKKI KULTA
Da TS.fi traduzione Nicole@KR Forum Ufficiale
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