Kimi Raikkonen's participation in the Rally Finland could soon come to an end as his Abarth Grande Punto has developed an ominous engine problem.
Although the Tommi Makinen Racing team is sending Raikkonen back out onto today's final loop of stages, AUTOSPORT reports that one of the engine's cylinders has a compression problem, and that the team is not optimistic about the car's chances of lasting the rest of the event.
In addition to the engine issue, Raikkonen also broke a shock absorber and damaged the car's sump guard in separate incidents on the second loop today. His co-driver Kaj Lindstrom is also having to push the car at times to start it due to starter motor problems.
"It's a shame, it would be nice to do the rally with the car working all the time," said Raikkonen. "Every time we come to service something is broken and we can't fix it perfectly. The engine has been a big problem all day. All the time something is breaking, we've had lots of problems on this loop."
Despite the glitches, Raikkonen -- who says he is enjoying his World Rally Championship weekend a great deal -- remains third among the Group N/Super 2000 cars, behind only Intercontinental Rally Challenge frontrunners Juho Hanninen and Anton Alen.