Rumors out of the Finnish press are indicating that talks between Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull/Citroen are failing. They are also quick to point out that the 2007 Formula 1 champion may be on his way to the Monster World Rally Team as we and some others have speculated. The wild card out of this potential deal is the fact we may even see Kimi in NASCAR!
We have known for sometime that Citroen was probably only fielding four cars in the 2011 championship. Sebastien Loeb and Ogier occupy two of those seats. Peter Van Merksteijn surprisingly got the third seat and we now wait to see who is lucky number four. The battle was between Raikkonen who crashed everything in site, and 2003 World Champion Petter Solberg. All indications are currently pointing at Solberg getting the ride and kicking Kimi to the curb.
Rumor has it that a group of investors from Ford are willing to front the money on Raikkonen. This would see him join Ken Block and the Monster World Rally Team in the new Fiesta RS WRC machine. This would then give Raikkonen the opportunity to drive in NASCAR in select events for 2011. We will have to wait and see on that part.
The NASCAR bit is not what is important here, rather the fact that Ken Block’s team will now spend more money on Fiesta’s than Monster will make in profit is concerning. By hiring Kimi, we now have to look and see if the Monster team is purley a PR stunt or actual rally team.
