Rally d’Italia-Sardegna - Leg 1 - 19th May 2006 Leg information: Stages: 6 (3 repeated) 129.64 km Surface: soft and fine gravel, abrasive base surface Weather: Hot and dry all day, temperatures in the region of 28° centigrade

Suzuki summary:

Suzuki Swift driver Guy Wilks has a lead of nearly a minute and a half in the Junior World Championship classification at the end of leg one in Italy. A Suzuki won all of today’s six stages, despite some very rough and demanding conditions. His team mate P-G Andersson was forced to retire from leg one on SS5, following an unfortunate series of punctures. Estonian driver Urmo Aava took an early lead in his Swift, before dropping to fifth place as a result of a puncture.

News from the leading Suzuki driver:

Guy Wilks (1st in JWRC): “It’s been a very tough day, with the conditions even more harsh than we expected. When the gravel clears, there is an extremely hard and rocky base on the stages – which is very tough on tyres. My only real moment was on SS5 when I hit a very large rock that damaged the sump guard. Despite this there was no problems, the Swift is a very tough car.”

Other news from Suzuki:

P-G Andersson was held back by a slow puncture on the very first stage of the rally, but worse was to follow in the afternoon. The Swede picked up two punctures on SS5, which made the car extremely difficult to control as he entered a fast right-hand bend after a bumpy downhill section. P-G’s car went off the road during the corner, and was stuck in an embankment. The team is currently assessing whether or not he will be able to re-start tomorrow under the Super Rally regulations.

News from “Monster” Tajima:

“After an excellent win in Argentina, Guy has again driven a brilliant first leg of the rally here in Italy. This is a rally that is won by driving with your head as much as your right foot, and Guy has judged the compromise between speed and safety perfectly. Despite some very rough conditions – as we expected – our cars have been perfectly reliable, which is encouraging as there is still a very long way to go. Just as important as being reliable, the car is fast – we won all six stages, which underlines the overall speed of the package. ”

Junior World Rally Championship classification at end of Leg 1, Rally d’Italia-Sardegna:

1 Guy Wilks (Suzuki Swift) 1h45m06.6s
2 Patrick Sandell (Renault Clio) +1m24.2s
3 Conrad Rautenbach (Renault Clio) +4m18.4s
4 Aaron Burkart (Citroen C2) +5m36.6s
5 Urmo Aava (Suzuki Swift) +5m41.4s
6 Julien Pressac (Citroen C2) +5m43.3s
7 Martin Prokop (Citroen C2) +6m05.0s
8 Brice Tirabassi (Citroen C2) +9m46.6s
10 P-G Andersson (Suzuki Swift) +11m10.6s