Raikkonen crashes during shakedown
Kimi Raikkonen's Rally Japan preparations were interrupted when he crashed on his final run at this morning's shakedown stage
The Citroen Junior Team driver tore the right-front wheel off his Citroen C4 WRC, but the Red Bull-backed Finn was unconcerned by the accident.
He said: "I'm not too bothered about it. I was turning in to a right-hand corner with concrete blocks inside the bend. One of the blocks was slightly out of line and I caught the right-front on the block which was sticking out. It took the right front corner off, but they will fix the car and we can go this evening. I'm not worried."
Having completed the recce for round 10 of the World Rally Championship, Raikkonen admitted the Sapporo-based event was not going to be an easy one for him.
"The roads are not easy," said Raikkonen. "In some places there's a lot of mud and some ruts. I don't have so much experience of these conditions, so I will have to learn. The priority is to get to the finish and take some points."
Raikkonen completed five runs at the shakedown stage - which was run in the Sapporo Dome on asphalt rather than on gravel, like the rest of the event - and set a fastest time two seconds slower than fastest man Jari-Matti Latvala.
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