F1 ace Kimi Raikkonen is reportedly pumped with Max Nagl’s double race victory in the Grand Prix of Qatar for Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna…

One driver could be quite distracted with the F1 season launch drawing near in Australia next weekend as Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna’s Max Nagl goes for another victory in round two of the FIM Motocross World Championship. Kimi Raikkonen has invested heavily into his Belgium-based team to take them from a small hobby project in MX1 to a factory-supported and resourceful outfit in MXGP. The 35 year old former world champion, and keen motocross fan, still keeps a very strong interest in the progress of his Grand Prix team.

 

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“Kimi was calling even before we did the podium ceremony last week,” said Team Manager Antti Pyrhonen, a Finn who has been in place for three years and helped escalate the performance and profile of IceOne in MXGP. “He is pretty busy but is still so motivated by the team and the sport. We speak a few times a week on the phone and he knows everything that is going on. He cannot be on the ground doing the work with us but he is very much ‘there’ all the time.”

 

Nagl’s Qatar Grand Prix win was the first podium trophy for the resurrected brand in the premier class since Jonny Lindhe grabbed silverware in the 500cc category at the beginning of the century. The race at Losail was also watched by former Liverpool Football Club captain Sami Hyypia, a guest of the team, who has been a regular visitor to MXGP over the years. “Sami was really happy after the race…he said he wanted us to get a bike ready for him because he really wanted to get out and ride!” said Pyrhonen.