Rallye Jordan 2008:
 

Brand new challenge for junior drivers

Event news:
The second round of this year's Junior World Rally Championship takes place on the Jordan Rally: a brand new addition to the two-wheel drive series. The event also marks the debut of the Suzuki Rallye Junior Team Germany, which enters a single Swift Super 1600 for up-and-coming 24 year-old German Florian Niegel. In addition to him, there will be the usual two Swifts run by Suzuki Sport Europe for Jaan Molder from Estonia and Michal Kosciuszko from Poland. Having finished a promising second and third on the opening round in Mexico, Molder and Kosciuszko are looking to consolidate their championship positions in Jordan.

However, this will be a far from easy task as none of the drivers have any experience of the complex Jordanian stages. Competition in the Junior World Rally Championship is always extremely close - making it the ideal breeding ground for champions of the future.

News from Jaan Molder (Suzuki Swift n.32):
"In Mexico my aim was to drive without taking too many risks for the maximum number of points, and this has to be the goal again in Jordan.

I am not too sure what the rally will be like, so I think we have to be quite careful. There are sure to be many drivers having problems - and I don't want to be one of them!"

News from Michal Kosciuszko (Suzuki Swift n.35):
"From what I have heard Jordan will be a very tough rally, but I don't know much about it. I think we will just have to see what the conditions are like when we get there to know how hard we can push. I always like new rallies, and the Swift is a very tough car, so if we stay out of trouble I think we can do well."

News from Florian Niegel (Suzuki Swift n.43):
"I have always dreamt of competing with the world's best juniors in the JWRC! Although we are newcomers, my goal is to try and stick with the pace of the more experienced teams. It would be absolutely fantastic if we could finish somewhere on the podium on our first event."

News from Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima, Suzuki World Rally Team principal:
"I was very impressed by the job that both the drivers did on the Rally Mexico, and for this event I would like to welcome Florian Niegel and the Suzuki Rallye Junior Team Germany into the Suzuki family. Of course we know them well, as the team boss is Niki Schelle - who took Suzuki's first podium place and fastest stage time in the Junior World Championship, back in 2002 on the Rallye Deutschland. Of course Jordan is a very different proposition, which is completely unknown to everyone. Under these tricky circumstances I urge all the drivers to proceed carefully: the most important thing in the Junior World Championship is always to get to the finish and score points."