The second day of the Rally of Turkey provided one of the toughest challenges of the World Rally Championship season. The mountainous stages to the west of the rally's host town of Kemer were, once again, bathed in sunshine ensuring they were baked hard. Both Suzuki SX4 WRCs made it through the opening stage of day two without any problems. Unfortunately for Toni Gardemeister and P-G Andersson, both drivers retired on the next stage - Gardemeister's car with a broken radiator, Andersson's with an electrical glitch.

Car news - Suzuki SX4 WRC n.11 (Gardemeister), n.12 (Andersson): The two Suzuki SX4 WRCs demonstrated strong reliability through the opening leg, but succumbed to the exceptionally rough conditions and tremendously high ambient temperatures on the Kemer-based Rally of Turkey. Neither of the SX4 WRCs will start the final day tomorrow. The engine in Gardemeister's car was overheated after the radiator was broken, while the sister Suzuki of Andersson was hit by an electrical issue, which first occurred on the opening day.

Driver news:
Toni Gardemeister: "There are positives to take away from this rally. We have been quick, quicker than before with the gap regularly below one second per kilometre down on the leader. But when you have some trouble, it's always disappointing. We were about half way through the stage when I noticed the car was starting to lose power. Then the engine temperature was going up. I thought this could be because we were in a very twisty section of the stage - it's normal for the temperature to rise in this condition. But when it carried on going up, then I knew we had to switch off - the radiator was broken. My shoulder was also hurting a little. I hit a big rock early in the stage, which knocked it badly. I had to drive one-handed for a while again. The next round of the championship takes us home to Finland and that's an event I'm really looking forward to. We will have a test and some new parts to come from the car. It's nice to know the SX4 WRC will be even faster when we get to my home."

P-G Andersson: "I was really looking forward to driving the SX4 WRC again today. It had been a really exciting day behind the wheel yesterday and I wanted to show what we could do again on day two. The time in the first stage was good, we were in the top 10 again, but then a couple of hundred metres off the start line in SS11 the car stopped. Yes, it's disappointing not to finish, but look at the times - we were setting top six times yesterday, which shows how far the car has come. I'm excited about the second half of the season already!"

Team news:
Paul Wilding, Suzuki World Rally Team manager: "We have seen more pace coming from the Suzuki SX4 WRC on this rally. It would have been nice to have got through more stages, as every kilometre we do with this car means more experience for the drivers and the team. P-G has lost a lot of time missing stages today, so the team felt it more worthwhile to trace the cause of the electrical problem here in the service park rather than sending the car out again."

Day 1: Suzuki enjoys a strong day in the Turkish sunshine
Both Suzuki drivers Toni Gardemeister and P-G Andersson enjoyed a thrilling day on the Turkish stages, as they hurled their SX4 WRCs along some of the twistiest and roughest roads around. Andersson moved into the top 10 on the fourth stage and remained there with some stunning times - including fourth fastest on the day's penultimate test. He only slipped out of the top 10 when a suspension problem cost him time on the final stage. He starts tomorrow's second day in 12th place. Gardemeister's day proved to be among the most physically challenging of his entire world rally career. The Finn suffered the agony of a dislocated shoulder on stage six, but battled on to end the day in ninth position. Gardemeister ended his day on a high setting fifth fastest time, just 1.9 seconds slower than four-times world champion Sebastien Loeb on the day's final stage.

Driver news:
Toni Gardemeister: "About five kilometres from the end of the stage [SS6] I was turning in a right-hand hairpin. I hit a rock and the steering wheel was ripped out of my hand; the impact dislocated my left shoulder. The pain was incredible. The shoulder went back in after a couple of seconds. The doctor worked on my shoulder in service and it wasn't so bad in the last two stages. It was really good to come through the last stage with a good time."

P-G Andersson: "I felt really happy with the car today. The handling was good after we had made some changes with the dampers ahead of this event. On the whole, the times we have set today have been very good. We had a puncture and a small hydraulic problem this afternoon, but otherwise the car has run without any problems. The last but one stage of the day was really good, we set fourth fastest time and we still weren't taking big risks. But then on the last stage, the rally hit us back. We dropped some time with a broken suspension part. That was a disappointing way to end what has otherwise been a great day in the SX4 WRC."

Team news:
Paul Wilding, Suzuki World Rally Team manager: "Our objective for this event is the same as it was for Greece: to get cars to the finish. From that perspective, it's been another good day. We haven't seen the SX4 WRC running at under half a second per kilometre slower than the lead car before today and I have to say I'm really pleased with that. We know what risks the guys are taking at the front and we know what risks our guys are doing to set these times. This is a good pace, but there's more to come from Suzuki."