finland

2007 F1 World champion Kimi Raikkonen impressed on the Neste Oil Rally Finland last weekend, despite crashing out in the final stage on day two, and the Finn revelled on his WRC debut declaring it 'good fun'.

Conrad Rautenbach has retired from the Neste Oil Rally Finland after crashing out in the penultimate stage. The Zimbabwean, who had been running ninth overall in his Citroen Junior Team-run C4 WRC, went off the road around halfway through the 15.06 kilometre Myhinpaa 2 test.

2007 F1 World champion Kimi Raikkonen has crashed out of Rally Finland in the final stage on day two.

Khalid Al Qassimi will be back behind the wheel of the 'third' BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Focus RS WRC car this week in Finland and having finished a career best sixth on the Acropolis last month, he will be going all out to replicate that achievement.

Kimi Raikkonen will make his debut in the World Rally Championship this week, when he takes in the Neste Oil Rally Finland, one of the fastest and oldest events on the WRC schedule.

Citroen team leader Sebastien Loeb will want to regain the upper hand in Finland next weekend and put the problems he has experienced in Poland, Greece and Sardinia firmly behind him.

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he does not expect his Formula One world title defence to be any easier than this year's triumph, particularly with the category radically overhauling its rulebook for 2009.

Kimi Raikkonen's 2007 Formula One title is to be celebrated back in his home land after Finland's postal service announced it is to issue a special set of stamps of the Ferrari man.

Andreas Aigner's 'test' for the Rally New Zealand at the end of this month went drastically wrong in Finland last weekend.

Ford privateer Matti Rantanen defied the odds to score points on his home event, the Neste Oil Rally Finland last weekend, bringing his Focus RS WRC06 home in seventh place.

Patrik Flodin has lost his Production Car World Rally Championship rostrum result on the Neste Oil Rally Finland.

Britain's Guy Wilks will make his first appearance in this year's FIA World Rally Championship this week, when he starts the Neste Oil Rally Finland, the ninth round in the series.

Subaru World Rally Team boss David Richards has predicted that the Banbury-based outfit will be just as competitive as arch rivals Ford and Citroen by the end of this year.

The organisers of the Neste Oil Rally Finland released the official entry list for their event on Friday, the ninth round in the 2008 FIA World Rally Championship.

Mika Maki, one of the drivers in contention for this year's Formula 3 Euroseries title, could be facing up to two years in jail after being involved in a serious car accident that almost cost him his life this weekend.

Guy Wilks has confirmed that he will supplement his campaign in the BRC by taking in an additional five international rallies this year, including the World Rally Championship event in Finland in the summer.

The organisers of the Neste Oil Rally Finland have confirmed that the legendary Ouninpohja stage will not be included as part of the route for this year event.

Marcus Gronholm [BP Ford WRT]:

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Marcus Gronholm's prot?g?, Kosti Katajamaki has said that he will be after a 'good result' on the Rally Finland this coming weekend, his fourth outing in the Stobart VK-backed Ford Focus.

The Skoda Motorsport World Rally Team has been hard at work testing for the coming 2005 season. Tests have been taking place in recent weeks in the south of France and northern Finland in preparation for the first two events of the new season - Monte Carlo and Sweden.

Junior World Rally Championship [JWRC] competitor Olly Marshall made an encouraging debut on his first attempt at the highly specialist Neste Rally Finland, but luck was to desert the 23 year old from York as he was to retire early on the second leg of the rally.

Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm will head into the final two tests of the Neste Rally Finland, leading Markko Martin by 41.9 seconds, and surely set to record his first WRC victory since Argentina 2003, and the first with the new 307 WRC.

Peugeot driver Marcus Gronholm has won the Rally Finland, the first-ever victory for the 307 WRC and the fourth career win for Gronholm on his home event.