Raikkonen able to continue rally
Kimi Raikkonen remains in Rally Mexico thanks to his co-driver Kaj Lindstrom's last-ditch effort to discover the problem that halted their Citroen C4 WRC on the second stage this morning
For the second event in succession, Raikkonen has suffered problems on the opening day. After sliding off the road on SS6 in Sweden, it was the Finn's Citroen which let him down on the Ortega test this morning. Just over two miles into the stage, the C4 WRC's engine died. Raikkonen and Lindstrom radioed the team for assistance and eventually traced the problem to a loose connection to the fuel pumps.
"We had tried everything, but we couldn't find it," Lindstrom said. "Then I slid my hand down the side of the bag [fuel tank], felt the wire and realised that was wrong. We got it sorted and carried on after that."
The Red Bull-backed pair's problems were not over, however. Running late, there was no time for them to change the tyres ahead of the morning's final gravel stage.
"It's been a tough morning," continued Lindstrom. "We bent something on the steering on the first stage, then we had stage two and we had to do the third stage on the same tyres, so we haven't really had a clean run. But, taking all that into account, Kimi has driven really well."
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