Raikkonen, who is eighth overnight in the ICE 1 Racing Citroen DS3 WRC he shares with co-driver Kaj Lindstrom, took the only stage win of his World Rally Championship career to date on the Circus Maximus stage in Germany last year. But he’s yet to enjoy the same kind of success on the Trier-based round in 2011.

“Germany has been a bit unlucky for me so far,” said Raikkonen. “It’s hard to compare it with last year, because the car and the conditions are completely different. This morning I was on the wrong tyres and then in the afternoon I had a spin. But if you take away those things then it would not have been so bad, so I hope we can get better tomorrow.”

Raikkonen lost more than a minute on the rain-hit stage two alone, but revealed that he had come very close to taking the same bold tyre choice as the factory Citroens, with a mixture of hard and soft tyres. In the end he opted for the hard tyres exclusively, leaving him struggling for grip.

“We thought about doing the same; we probably should have done it,” he added. “Sure, it would be hard to know how the car might handle like that as we never tested it, but it probably would have been OK.”

Raikkonen’s best result so far this year is sixth overall in Jordan, which he believes he stands a chance of matching in Germany. “We need to be a bit lucky with that, but the feeling with the car is very good,” he concluded.

The Finn’s only other delay occurred on stage five when he carried too much speed into a right-hand bend and slid into a wooden fence. The impact damaged his driver’s side door, which kept flying open during the stage.