Just 15 months after winning the Formula 1 World Championship, Kimi Räikkönen made his international rallying debut, 15 years ago this month.
Räikkönen enjoyed a paltry 30 miles of testing aboard his Abarth Grande Punto S2000 car before taking part in the 2009 Arctic Lapland Rally, the first round of the Finnish championship.
Amid questions over his motivation to remain in F1, Räikkönen – who famously competed in snowmobile races under the pseudonym James Hunt – reportedly employed the services of Tommi Mäkinen to set up his Punto, as well as the four-time world champion’s last co-driver, Kaj Lindström, to sit alongside him.
Among a 130-car entry, nearly half of which were four-wheel-drive machines, the pair set respectable stage times throughout the Rovaniemi-based event, which would of course feature on the World Rally Championship calendar some 12 years later.
Räikkönen brought his Punto home in 13th place overall after nearly 150 miles of competitive action on snow and ice. He was less than a minute behind ex-F1 racer JJ Lehto, who finished ninth in a Mitsubishi Lancer E9 on his eighth attempt at the event.
The event was a prelude to Räikkönen contesting three more rallies in the Punto that year, including his home round of the WRC. That didn’t end so well, as he crashed out at the end of the second day when running 15th overall. But Räikkönen had still impressed, having been third in class at the time.
The following year, he would make a full-time switch to rallying as part of the Citroën Junior Team. Driving a C4 WRC, he placed 10th overall in the WRC, with a best result of fifth in Turkey. He even recorded a stage win en route to seventh on Rally Germany.
Räikkönen spent 2011 driving a privately-entered Citroën DS3 WRC. He claimed six consecutive points finishes and was again placed 10th in the championship. But he found the WRC schedule increasingly tiresome and returned to F1 in 2012, spending another 10 years in the category.
His teenage nephew Justus has since taken to the stages, impressing with class wins on Rally Finland in each of the past two seasons.
