Andersson
underlines Suzuki SX4 WRC's reliability
Event news:
P-G Andersson has ended the Rally d'Italia
Sardegna inside the top 10, following
three days of faultless running for
his SX4 WRC. Andersson - who ended up
ninth - described his car as "perfect"
throughout the entire rally, with the
SX4 WRC requiring nothing more than
routine servicing at the end of every
day. On the final stage he set an excellent
sixth-fastest time to finish the rally
in style.
His team mate Toni
Gardemeister was not so lucky, having
retired from day two with broken suspension
and failing to finish the final day.
Nonetheless, the Suzuki World Rally
Team achieved its key objective of improving
the reliability of the SX4 WRC in every
area, and building solid foundations
for the future.
Sardinia is renowned
as one of the toughest events on the
World Rally Championship, because of
its hard surfaces and sharp rocks. Conditions
were made even more difficult this year
by the unseasonably wet weather, which
caused the road surfaces to degrade
and exposed yet more sharp rocks. Despite
these obstacles, P-G steered clear of
trouble to end the rally just outside
the points, having proved that Suzuki's
decision to put the accent on reliability
during this event has paid off. Having
learnt several valuable lessons for
the future, the team is now feeling
confident for the next two rough gravel
events in the Mediterranean: Greece
and Turkey.
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Car
news - Suzuki SX4 WRC n.11 (Gardemeister)
and n.12 (Andersson): Toni
Gardemeister's car developed an
electrical glitch after the mid-morning
service that meant he was unable
to finish the rally today, but
Andersson's car was perfect from
start to finish and again reported
no problems at all today. Following
a steep learning curve on the
previous rally in Jordan, the
Suzuki team had introduced several
important new measures designed
to enhance the underbody protection
and improve the cooling on the
SX4 WRC. |
These evolutions worked well, despite
the extremely tough conditions of Sardinia,
and further improvements are planned
for the next round in Greece - the legendary
Acropolis Rally - which takes place
in two weeks' time.
Driver news:
Toni Gardemeister: "It's not
been a perfect rally for us, but the
most important thing is that the team
has completed lots of valuable development
work on the car and proved with P-G
that we can have a good level of reliability.
It's always tough in your first year,
but I think now we are really beginning
to turn a corner and make some solid
progress. I have always said that when
the car is running reliably it can be
a good package, and I think we have
shown some potential on this rally.
Of course there is plenty of work still
to do but we are definitely on the right
road."
P-G Andersson:
"It's been a very tough rally
for us but a good one: the car has been
perfect from start to finish and I have
been very happy with it. We've had no
major problems despite the extremely
challenging conditions, which made it
very difficult to judge the correct
pace, particularly under braking. I
hope now that we have got a good basis
to work from for the future. I wasn't
actually thinking much about points
on this event: for all of us the priority
was to get the car to the finish safely
and I'm very pleased that we have been
able to do that."
Team news:
Paul Wilding, Suzuki World Rally Team
manager: "This has been a very
satisfying rally for us as we achieved
a lot of what we set out to do: to try
to get the cars to the finish despite
some very rough and challenging conditions.
It's just a pity that we couldn't achieve
this with both SX4 WRCs, but we will
be analysing what happened with Toni's
car very carefully, and I'm confident
that we'll keep learning and improving
into the future. I'd like to thank all
the team and drivers for a great job
throughout the weekend."
Day 2: Andersson
hopes to prove a point on Rally d'Italia
Sardegna
The Suzuki SX4
WRC of P-G Andersson has ended the second
day of the Rally d'Italia Sardegna just
outside the points, after making solid
progress that has underlined the Suzuki
World Rally Team's focus on reliability.
Andersson was ninth at the end of the
opening day, while his team mate Toni
Gardemeister was forced to retire from
the day after hitting rear suspension
problems on SS11. He made a temporary
repair, but the team decided that it
would be safer to withdraw him from
the day in order to allow him to re-start
tomorrow.
The stages on the second day of the
rally were faster and more flowing than
those of the previous day, but a hard
base and a sandy surface meant that
the roads were extremely slippery. In
the afternoon, the threat of rain made
the choice of set-up at midday service
complicated, but both Toni and P-G opted
for some compromise settings that worked
well in the dry conditions.
Having started the day in 11th position,
P-G made up two places to end Saturday's
action just one position away from the
points-scoring places. The young Swede's
aim is to maximise any opportunities
that come his way tomorrow in order
to score a point and reward the efforts
of the Suzuki team to improve the SX4
WRC's reliability.
Car
news - Suzuki SX4 WRC n.11 (Gardemeister),
n.12 (Andersson): Apart from
the problem that halted Toni Gardemeister
with just one stage to go, the Suzuki
World Rally Team fulfilled its objective
to work on the SX4 WRC's reliability
over today's six stages that totalled
134.60 competitive kilometres. Suzuki
learnt several important lessons
from the opening day of the event
yesterday, and consequently the
cars have been generally well-equipped
to deal with the challenge of the
narrow Sardinian roads throughout
day two. . |
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The cause of Gardemeister's
rear suspension problem will be analysed
once the car returns to service at the
harbourside in Olbia this evening and
it is hoped that he will re-start the
rally tomorrow
Driver news:
Toni Gardemeister: "I'm not really
sure what happened, but we had a problem
with the rear suspension on SS11 that
badly affected the handling of the car.
It was a pity, as up until then we had
encountered no problems at all and enjoyed
another really good day. This just goes
to show that when the car is reliable,
it can be very effective. We have been
deliberately careful not to take any
risks today, and I certainly haven't
been pushing to the maximum. We'll see
what we can do tomorrow, but this rally
has been really important for us so
far, as it was vital to achieve a basic
level of reliability in order to move
forwards."
P-G Andersson:
"The car has been perfect today,
but the roads are challenging: it's
extremely difficult to judge the braking
as there is such inconsistent grip.
Having said that, the stages today were
actually in much better condition than
I expected: after the rain overnight
I thought that they would be more slippery
and that they would cut up more than
they did. Punctures were a big risk
today because of all the rocks on the
side of the stages, so I'm glad that
we survived them. We're a minute behind
eighth place at the moment, so it will
be tough to score points but we have
to hope: you never know what can happen."
Team news:
Paul Wilding, Suzuki World Rally Team
manager: "We're obviously disappointed
by the problem that Toni picked up so
close to the end of today, but for the
moment we don't know why it happened
and we will need to have a closer look
in order to find out. That shouldn't
detract though from what has been a
very satisfying day in other respects:
in particular the flawless reliability
of P-G's car, which has enabled us to
end the day on the fringes of the points
and gather plenty of information that
will be very useful for the future."
Day 1: Suzuki
drivers make a solid start in Sardinia
Both Suzuki drivers
have made a solid start to the Rally
d'Italia Sardegna, round six of the
World Rally Championship. Toni Gardemeister
returned to final service at the harbourside
in Olbia occupying a provisional 10th
position, while his team mate P-G Andersson
was about nine seconds behind him in
11th.
The crews were greeted by cooler conditions
than were expected on Italy's round
of the World Championship, and stages
that had been made extremely slippery
by recent heavy rainfall. The Suzuki
crews made a cautious start on the opening
stage, but Gardemeister was up to an
impressive sixth by the end of SS2 and
arrived at midday service in a point-scoring
eighth. Both cars have reached the finish
of day one with no major problems and
are poised to improve on their positions
over the challenging leg two tomorrow.
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Car
news - Suzuki SX4 WRC n.11 (Gardemeister),
n.12 (Andersson): Both cars
were largely reliable throughout
the day's six stages, despite
the extremely rough conditions.
Toni encountered some small gear
selection problems throughout
the day but otherwise had a clean
run to the finish, while P-G struggled
with a slight front brake problem.
Thanks to some of the improvements
introduced since the Jordan Rally,
there were no other issues with
the cars all day: a promising
sign that the decision to concentrate
on reliability is yielding results.
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Driver news:
Toni Gardemeister: "Today
has actually been a very good day for
us. To be sixth fastest and sixth overall
at the end of the longest stage of the
rally this morning was very encouraging.
We had a few problems with the downshifts
on the gearbox all day, but really nothing
major. I just tried to be very smooth
and precise on these stages, because
if you go off the line then it is easy
to have a puncture or hit a rock."
P-G Andersson:
"It's been a steady start to the
rally, but these stages are very difficult.
Maybe it's because of the changing level
of grip, or maybe because the roads
are so narrow, but it's been hard to
find a good rhythm. It's been very slippery
as well - a bit more than I expected.
I had a problem with the brakes in the
afternoon, but our objective has been
to stay out of trouble and so far I
think we've managed to achieve that.
If we keep the same level of reliability
tomorrow, then I'm confident that we
can move up the order."
Team news:
Paul Wilding, Suzuki World Rally Team
manager: "We're very pleased with
the result at the end of the first day.
The team has achieved its goal in these
unusually rough conditions, and we have
been able to learn a lot. We look forward
to building on this solid foundation
tomorrow, which will be the longest
day of the rally and every bit as challenging
as the conditions we faced today."
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