Kosciuszko's Suzuki team-mate Jan Molder and local hotshot Kalle Pinomaki rolled their Swift Super 1600s out of contention yesterday. Suzuki Rallye Junior Team Germany driver Florian Niegel turned in an inch-perfect drive to win class N2 in his Group N Suzuki Swift. This was the German ace's first Finnish outing, but he demonstrated both pace and maturity to bring the car home without a mark on it. News from Michal Kosciuszko (Suzuki Swift n.35): "Today has been good. It was a difficult position. We were a minute behind second place.

And a long way ahead of the driver in fourth place. Today was a day for checking the pace notes and not for taking big risks.I needed the points for the championship today and we've done that. The car has been very good, it has been perfect with just the right set-up for the whole event."

News from Florian Niegel (Suzuki Swift n.43): "What can you say about these roads? They are fantastic. I have really enjoyed this event. Okay at times, there have been some big ruts which have made it tough for the car, but mechanically, it has been very strong. Now I can really go to my home rally, Rallye Deutschland on a high - and I will be driving the Suzuki Swift Super 1600 there: I can't wait!"

Day 2: Podium beckons for Suzuki Junior driver Kosciuszko

After an exceptionally tense day on the stages, Suzuki Swift Super 1600 driver - and overnight Junior World Rally Championship leader - Michal Kosciuszko slipped back from the top of the leaderboard when he went off the road on the penultimate stage of day two of Rally Finland.

Having overcome a minor off-road excursion on the opening stage, Kosciuszko had driven perfectly through the rest of the day to put his Swift back in the lead of the category, only for him to miss out on back-to-back J-WRC wins with a mistake in SS20. The Polish driver remains in third place ahead of tomorrow's final leg, however, so a good points haul from this event is still a strong possibility.

Behind Kosciuszko, his Suzuki team-mate Jaan Molder was forced to stop and change a puncture in stage 18. Molder's efforts to make the time up went wrong in the penultimate stage of the day when he crashed and rolled out of the rally. Molder was taken to hospital for a check up following the accident.

News from Michal Kosciuszko (Suzuki Swift n.35): "I saw a car off the road in front of me [in SS20]. Okay, I came around the car and dropped a couple of seconds, but my concentration was not so good after this. I then went off the road and into a ditch on a corner. I couldn't get the car out straight away. It's very disappointing after such a big fight with Martin Prokop. My target tomorrow is to get third place and some precious championship points."

News from Florian Niegel (Suzuki Swift n.43): "The ruts on the road have made it quite a difficult day. There's not much we can do, the car is bottoming out, but we have raised it on the suspension as high as we can. Despite the fact that the car is running on the sumpguard for quite a lot of the time, the Group N Suzuki Swift is running absolutely without fault. It's a fantastic car. And these are fantastic roads. They're quite incredible."

News from Kari Hytonen (Suzuki Swift 112): "It's been a good day, some of the stages have been quite rough in the places."

News from Christoffer Dahlstrom (Suzuki Ignis 113): "This has been a long day for me. I haven't done this event before, but I've watched it 18 times - it's fantastic to be here competing rather than spectating."

News from Sami Tuominen (Suzuki Ignis 114): "Some of the stages have been quite difficult today, and it's been very long - a lot of kilometers. It's such a tough rally."

Day 1: Suzuki Swift dominates day one of the J-WRC fight in Finland

The Suzuki Swift Super 1600 proved to be the car to beat on the ultra-fast roads of Rally Finland through today's opening leg of the latest Junior World Rally Championship round. Michal Kosciuszko maintained the stunning form which carried him to a maiden victory last time out in Sardinia placing his Swift at the top of the leaderboard following a trouble-free day for the Polish driver. Kosciuszko set a plethora of fastest times through today's 10 stages, with his Swift not missing a beat as it demonstrated its sporting pedigree perfectly.

Kosciuszko's team-mate Jaan Molder overcame his broken right ankle to place the sister Swift in an incredible fourth place at the end of the day. Kalle Pinomaki had been much fancied for a strong result, driving another Swift Super 1600 on his home J-WRC round. Unfortunately for him, his chances of success were dented by a puncture on SS5. The all-round ability and outright speed of the standard Swift was demonstrated by German driver Florian Niegel and a bevy of Finnish private drivers who put their Group N Suzukis to excellent use through the tough day one conditions.

News from Jaan Molder (Suzuki Swift n.32): "Today has been okay. I hit a stone in stage seven, I thought it was going to go through the radiator. In the end we were quite lucky, we could have retired if it had gone through the radiator. My ankle was starting to ache a little bit this afternoon, but it will be fine." News from Michal Kosciuszko (Suzuki Swift n.35): "It's been a very good day for me. The Suzuki has been perfect all day. It's an interesting fight at the top of the leaderboard, but I know I can still go a little bit faster if I need to. I'm not taking all of the risks yet, there's a little bit left in me and in the car."

News from Florian Niegel (Suzuki Swift n.43): "The first time through stages has been good. It's great to be here driving in Finland, but on the second run through the stages, we found the car was banging on its sumpguard a little bit - that was quite tough. Obviously, that's nothing to do with the Swift, it was just because of the rutted conditions."

News from Kalle Pinomaki (Suzuki Swift 59): "The puncture was very frustrating for me. We had to stop and change the wheel, so we dropped three minutes. Everything has been good apart from that, but when you lose so much time, it's hard to fight back."

News from Kari Hytonen (Suzuki Swift 112): "The day was good for us, we're second in the class which is good after the car ahead is driven by an official Suzuki driver."

News from Christoffer Dahlstrom (Suzuki Ignis 113): "I have enjoyed the stages. The middle loop was a bit rough after we had been through once. Otherwise, it's okay."

News from Sami Tuominen (Suzuki Ignis 114): "No problems for us in these stages. It's been good, but it would have been better if the sun had been shining."