The top five Red Bull rally drivers

The top five Red Bull rally drivers 

Red Bull has nurtured some exciting talent over the years: some faces better known than others. WRC.com picks out its top five Red Bull rally drivers - and Sebastien Loeb is 'only' second...

1: Kimi Raikkonen The Iceman, the 2007 Formula One world champion, sensationally came to the WRC with Red Bull at the beginning of 2010, after Ferrari dispensed with his services a year early to make room for Fernando Alonso. As the first Formula One driver to make a full-time switch to rallying Raikkonen was undoubtedly the biggest Red Bull star to grace the sport, even picking up a stage win on his debut year in Germany. “I think rally drivers are probably the best drivers in the world, and I wanted to see if I could do it,” he said.

2: Sebastien Loeb Loeb is not only the most successful driver in world rallying - with nine world titles and 75 WRC victories to his name - but also arguably the most successful driver ever in motorsport. Red Bull has backed him since 2008, when the energy drink came into the WRC with Citroen on Rally Argentina, and is the company’s biggest French star.

3: Travis Pastrana This man is what Red Bull is all about: he’s sufficiently unhinged, for example, to jump out of an aeroplane without a parachute, swigging a can of Red Bull as he went. Just before rolling out of the door, he said: “I hope this stuff works...” The American also competed in the World Rally Championship in a Group N Subaru, finishing fifth in class on his WRC debut: Rally Mexico in 2007. And last year he tried something completely different: the East African Safari Classic in a Tuthill Porsche 911. 

4: Juho Hanninen Last year’s Super 2000 world champion is one of the WRC’s hidden talents, largely because he has been away competing in the European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. In fact the Finnish star is the most successful driver in the history of the latter series and he’s also won the European title this year. He won Group N on his WRC debut, Rally Sweden in 2006, and definitely has what it takes to reach the top.

5: Nasser Al Attiyah The Qatari is one of Red Bull’s most versatile superstars, winning the Dakar Rally in 2011 - the very first Arab to do so - and also clinching the Production Car World Rally Championship in 2006. This year he stepped up to a Citroen DS3 WRC with a best result of fourth overall in Portugal.

Fonte: wrc.com

Uau, pelo menos uma vez na vida Kimi pode dizer que já bateu Séb Loeb!!! rsrsrs... Na verdade, a segunda né? Já que ele ganhou uma especial no Rali da Alemanha em 2010. :)

Beijinhos, Ludy