Raikkonen's NASCAR adventure ends in the wall at Watkins Glen
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Kimi Raikkonen has ended his NASCAR race in the wall. The Finn was competing in this weekend's NASCAR Cup at the former F1 circuit of Watkins Glen. However, the 2007 world champion was unable to finish the race.
Raikkonen in American wall
This weekend, Raikkonen participated in a one-off NASCAR race. The Finn was invited by Trackhouse Racing's Project 91. This team tries to raise the profile of the sport by organising one-off participations by big international names. As a former Formula One world champion, Raikkonen naturally fits this profile.
Raikkonen started the race from 27th place, but thanks to a good strategy of his team he was already in the top ten before the incident. A spin by Austin Dillon caused the field to merge, and Raikkonen was the victim. He was hit and ended up in the wall.
NASCAR debut in 2011
''I had a good line there … unfortunately I had no time to react,'' Raikkonen said after the race at NBC Sports. Still, the former Ferrari driver enjoyed the race. ''It was good fun. I felt more confidence all the time and had some good battles. The car felt like it had a lot of speed in there, but that’s how it goes sometimes.''
It was not the first time in Raikkonen's career that he was at the start of a NASCAR race. In 2011, when he was not active in F1, as in 2010, he raced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series. He did one race in both series. Whether Raikkonen returns to the sport more often remains to be seen.