Raikkonen to miss Rally Australia

Citing a scaled back budget compared to 2010, the announcement was made on August 22 that Raikkonen would not contest Rally Australia. Raikkonen has also missed other selected 'flyaway' rounds as being too costly to undertake. The Finnish heavy-hitter quit the Ferrari team after 2009 to test his talents in the World Rally Championship.

In only his second season of driving on gravel instead of a billiard-smooth racetrack, Raikkonen is yet to match the speed of his top rivals. This season, Raikkonen has scored points in all rounds he's contested, with a best result of sixth in both the Jordan Rally and the most recent round, Rallye Deutschland.

Despite Raikkonen's non-appearance, there will still be plenty of WRC stars to see, including World Rally Champions Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg, as well as Sebastien Ogier, Mikko Hirvonen, Jari-Matti Latvala and Ken Block, who will bring his famous 'Ken Block Gymkhana' live show to Australia in the lead up to the local WRC round.

Rally Australia, round 10 of the 2011 World Rally Chanpionship, will be staged on the New South Wales Coffs Coast on 8-11 September.