Kubica wants a future in rallying

ROBERT KUBICA

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Friday 2nd May 2008

Robert Kubica has revealed that he may leave F1 for rallying in the future but not before he has "achieve something in F1."

And the Polish driver is well on his way towards doing that.

He almost claimed his first race win in Malaysia earlier this season but had to settle for second place behind a rampant Kimi Raikkonen. One race weekend later the 23-year-old clinched his maiden pole position after edging out Felipe Massa in qualifying in Bahrain.

Kubica now finds himself third in the Drivers' standings, ten points behind Championship leader Raikkonen. But while he dreams of winning the F1 World title, the BMW driver also dreams of a future in rallying.

"I think there's a good possibility (of moving into rallying one day) but there are two ways to do rallying," he told Reuters.

"If I want to do rally properly as a serious driver, I cannot wait a long time. But first of all I would like to have fun in Formula One and achieve something in Formula One.

"The second option is when I stop Formula One, just to do rallying for fun. And I think the second option is more possible."

Kubica in fact revealed that his rise up the ladder to F1 almost came to a halt when he was offered a chance to switching to rallying. "There was one moment when I was quite down after one season and I had two offers to go to rallying," he recalled.

"But I said I would try another year and see, because my parents and everybody had made a lot of sacrifices to achieve something in motor racing and in single seaters. I knew the rally possibilities would still be there in a few years' time."

Kubica admitted that one of the factors in rallying that appeals to him is the fact that the fans get so much closer to the action than they do in F1.

"I like to watch rallies. Every time I go, I park the car where the fans park - I don't have any special tickets or permission to go - and I walk six kilometres," he said.

"The night before, I go through some stages to see where are the good points and how to get to them. I like the system of rallying and once you find a good place, you go there and feel closer to the rally.

"Sometimes in Formula One the fans are too far away from what is going on on the track."

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