Kimi Raikkonen celebrates Easter with baptism of fire 03.04.2010: Red Bull Jordan Rally day three In Finland, children celebrate Easter by handing out decorations and twigs in return for a bit of money. Other Finnish families grow rye grass in pots and then place eggs in them. Kimi Raikkonen instead celebrated Easter

Red Bull Jordan Rally day three

In Finland, children celebrate Easter by handing out decorations and twigs in return for a bit of money. Other Finnish families grow rye grass in pots and then place eggs in them. Kimi Raikkonen instead celebrated Easter by racking up his first points finish in the World Rally Championship, ending up eighth overall on only his eighth-ever rally.

And where could be more appropriate to enjoy Easter than the actual place where Jesus Christ was baptised? The 'Baptism Site' stage on the final day of the Jordan Rally was repeated twice, taking the crews past the place on the Jordan River where the world's most famous baptism took place.

Back in those days - and occasionally in the modern age - baptisms were performed with people fully immersing themselves in the water, which occasionally led to an ironic death by drowning. As recently as January this year, at least two people were swept out to sea during a baptism ceremony in Africa, going to heaven rather sooner than they had planned.

Kimi - who was actually baptised as Kimi Matias Raikkonen - concentrated on keeping his car on the road and out of the water in Jordan. The Iceman's reward was his best-ever finish on the World Rally Championship, after a mistake-free drive that helped his learning process considerably. The 339 competitive kilometres of the Jordan Rally marks the longest time that the former Grand Prix champion has ever spent in a rally car on gravel, and now he is looking forward to more action in Turkey at the end of the month.




"From the beginning my goal was to get to the end of the rally and I'm really pleased that we've been able to do that even though the conditions were difficult," said the Red Bull driver. "As the stages went on I've learned more and more, and my confidence has grown bigger as well. We came to Jordan with very little experience of the car on gravel and now we've practically doubled it. I'm getting to know the car better now, but the important thing as well is that I've really enjoyed these three days. We're making progress, which is why we are here, and hopefully this will continue on the next round in Turkey."

Kimi's co-driver Kaj Lindstrom also enjoyed his first visit to the Jordan Rally, scoring his first points as a co-driver since finishing third with the legendary four-time World Champion Tommi Makinen on the 2003 Rally Great Britain.

"It's been a very good event for us," added Kaj. "Kimi's speed has been really impressive for someone who has hardly been driving any rallies at all: he's already doing the same sort of times as people with much more experience. The key to this event was just making sure that we got to the end with no mistakes – and this is only the start. We're going to be seeing a lot more of Kimi in the future..."




- Anthony Peacock -  photos copyright by Willy Weyens
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