Räikkönen keen on more WRC outings

The Peugeot 208 driver won the two-wheel drive Rally4 category by a massive 24 minutes last weekend at his WRC debut and the 17-year-old is now looking forward to more WRC action

“It would be nice to come back and to do more,” said Räikkönen. “It’s nice to come to Rally Finland and drive in the WRC. For now I will focus on the Finnish Championship and try to win that. I will stay with this car and maybe a Rally2 car in the future.”

Räikkönen has only been competing in rallies since October 2020 and last week’s WRC counter was only his second event in a Peugeot 208.

Despite his lack of experience, he could count on his uncle Kimi for advice – the older of the two Finns competed at Rally Finland three times, finishing in the top 10 on his last outing in 2011.

The Räikkönen name did, of course, turn heads in Jyväskylä last week – including that of his world championship leading countryman Kalle Rovanperä.

Rovanperä said: “It’s great to have this name back in the world championship. I don’t really know Justus, but I saw what he was doing. It’s good.”