Another Guest Appearance…
So this is pretty cool news… we are going to see another high profile name from Formula 1 dipping his toes into the world of rallying. Yesterday, Valtteri Bottas announced that he would be throwing one of M-Sport’s Fiesta WRC cars around the frozen stages of Arctic Lapland Rally this upcoming January. I’m very interested to see how he fares. Circuit racers certainly haven’t had the most success when they switch to the discipline of rallying. Kimi Raikkonen’s lumberjacking exploits in 2009 and 2010 immediately come to mind when we explore this topic. Robert Kubica was another one who crashed a lot, but at least he exhibited enough speed to show he belonged in the WRC during his 3 years in the sport. Speaking of circuit racers exploits in rallying, Valentino Rossi won only his 7th Monza Rally Show this past weekend. Ok, it’s not proper stage rallying, but I’d still like to see him have another go in the WRC at some point. I remember him ending up in a ditch on Wales Rally GB back in the early 2000’s. He deserves another go.
Also, while we’re on the topic, who else would you like to see give rallying a try for the first time? In an ideal world, I’d love to see Kiwi IndyCar driver, Scott Dixon have a go at rallying. I think he has one of the smoothest, most natural driving styles out there and it would translate really well in a rally car. In addition, he’s as cool as they come, and I don’t think he’d do something silly and throw the car off in the first stage of an event. He’s my number one pick. Who’s yours?
You can check out the full story about Valtteri here on Autosport, but I thought I’d leave some memories below of other WRC guest (mostly Kimi’s) appearances over the years…
