Kimi Räikkönen gets his first taste of the Citroën C4 WRC

Kimi Räikkönen got his first taste of the Citroën C4 WRC earlier this week, at a private gravel test track close to the team’s Satory workshops near Paris. This initial shakedown allowed the Finn to start getting used to the car that he will drive in the 2010 FIA World Rally Championship.

With only a few weeks left before this year’s World Rally Championship season gets underway in Sweden on 12th February, Kimi has already started his preparations in earnest.

The 2007 Formula 1 World Champion travelled to Paris to see Citroën Racing’s facilities for himself and to test the Citroën C4 WRC on a gravel test track within the Satory complex. Having covered around 50 kilometres, the latest Citroën Junior Team driver appreciated the chance to familiarise himself with his new car.

“I very much enjoyed meeting the team properly for the first time,” he said. “It was good to try out a few different things; I was very interested to see how the car reacted when you changed some of the settings. Now, I’m really keen to get back behind the wheel of the C4 again!”

Kimi Räikkönen’s first competitive outing will be on 28th January when he competes in the Arctic Lapland Rally in a Citroën C4 WRC to prepare for the forthcoming Swedish Rally, the first round of the 2010 World Rally Championship.

It will be fascinating to see how he truly shapes up in a front-line team, and whether this will become a permanent move for the ex-Ferrari F1 driver.