According to sources close to Automoto365.com, former Ferrari champion Kimi Raikkonen has signed a preliminary deal to race for Citroen in the World Rally Championship (WRC) in the upcoming 2010 Championship season.

Left without a top team capable of giving him a winning car after agreeing to step back from Ferrari and losing the available McLaren drive alongside Lewis Hamilton to 2009 champion, Jenson Button, Kimi’s choices in Formula One are very limited and while he still has unfinished business in the pinnacle of Motorsports, it seems no one on the 2010 grid can match the Finn’s requirements.

Mercedes is more than likely the only other team that could give Kimi what he needs equipment wise, are not prepared to meet the Finnish driver’s financial demands with the top brass wanting a much cheaper driver to race alongside Nico Rosberg. Therefore, he now finds himself left out in the cold and despite a nice payout from Ferrari, racing is in his blood and that’s what he wants to keep doing.

In steps Citroen, renamed as Creative Technologies, ‘the new ad baseline", to reinvent Citroen. Kimi is the sort of driver that should appeal to Red Bull, one of Citroen’s sponsors, immensely talented and a dare devil on and off track and his love of Rally has never been in doubt, in fact he has already made his debut in the Finnish rally earlier this year. For Citroen, the chance to have Raikkonen on their books would be a win win situation. While drivers tend to switch disciplines afrom time to time, never before has an F1 champion moved to the World Rally Championship for an entire season and as he already has a strong fan base his image would be perfect to reinforce the team and championship. It would also be the first time in a while that Citroen would have a Nordic driver in their ranks, giving them France, Spain and Nordic countries in their portfolio.

While the exact nature of the new deal is not quite known at this point in time, there are two possibilities open to the Finn in the Citroen world, either with the Junior Team as there is an immediate seat available or with Petter Solberg’s team, making for a super pairing of 2 world champions, 1 F1 1 WRC. Our very reliable sources confirmed that Solberg has contacted Kimi recently while the Finn’s co driver in WRC has already stated that they will keep working together in 2010...