Suzuki scores best-ever result on home territory

The Rally Japan has been a resounding success for Suzuki, with the cars claiming their best-ever results on home territory. At the end of this challenging event, up-and-coming Swede P-G Andersson has finished in fifth place while his Finnish team mate Toni Gardemeister was sixth. As well as scoring driver and manufacturer points with both cars, the Suzuki World Rally Team set its first fastest stage time on Saturday and was never out of the top six times throughout the whole of Sunday. The SX4 WRCs were perfectly reliable from start to finish, despite tough conditions and harsh weather on this brand new event that challenged all the top runners.

Sunday's final day of the Rally Japan took in nine stages and nearly 100 competitive kilometres, in wet and muddy conditions. The Suzuki drivers found exactly the right blend of speed and consistency to capitalise upon all the progress made to date with the SX4 WRC, which is still to complete its first full season of competition.

Both the cars hit minor setbacks on SS23, Sikot: Gardemeister had a small puncture in the rocky conditions while Andersson had a backwards spin at a hairpin that cost 10 seconds but did not prevent him from setting second-fastest time. Without this mishap, he would have been fastest. Having set three second-fastest stage times today, Andersson overhauled his team mate on the penultimate stage to claim fifth overall. Apart from that, the yellow cars encountered no problems all the way to the finish in Sapporo - which was watched by thousands of excited local Suzuki fans in unexpected sunshine!

Car news - Suzuki SX4 WRC n.11 (Gardemeister), n.12 (Andersson):
The final day of the Rally Japan presented the crews with a considerable challenge, particularly during the second run through the stages when the rain made the roads rough and rutted. In order to counteract these difficult conditions, both drivers adjusted the set-up of the SX4 WRC to guarantee sufficient ground clearance and suspension travel.

As the rally route was all-new for this year following Rally Japan's move from Obihiro, the drivers had to learn the roads and establish the correct set-up as they went along. Today's itinerary consisted of two loops of five consecutive stages, with just one service halt in between. In the opinion of most of the drivers, Sunday's stages were amongst the most challenging of the whole rally, with the water turning some of the stages into small rivers during the morning.

Driver news:
Toni Gardemeister: "This has been a very tough but a very good rally for us, which has confirmed what I always thought: when we have a nice clean run with no problems, we are able to fight for a good position. I was also really proud to set Suzuki's first fastest stage time on Saturday. Given that we have not even finished our first full year yet and that we have done no testing, it really shows our potential for the future. We head now to the final round of the season in Great Britain with quite a lot of confidence."

P-G Andersson: "I've really enjoyed this event and I hope that we've given all the Suzuki fans here something to remember! The car has been completely reliable and without the time we lost to stop and change a puncture yesterday, I think we could have been even closer to the leaders. This rally shows that all the hard work and development we have put in over the course of the year really works and it is a very encouraging sign for the future. After struggling a bit on the asphalt rallies, my confidence is back to full strength and I am looking forward to a solid season finish now."

Team news:
Shusuke Inagaki, Suzuki World Rally Team Director: "We are all very proud of the achievements of the Suzuki World Rally Team here at home in Japan! An important thing to remember is that the rally route was brand new for this year, which meant that nobody started with any real advantage in terms of experience. This proves that when the conditions are equal, we can fight with some of the frontrunners. Of course we still have a long way to go and much to learn, but this is the clearest indication yet that everything is heading in the right direction."

Final result:
1 Mikko Hirvonen 3:25:03.0 0.0
2 Jari-Matti Latvala 3:25:34.1 +31.1
3 Sebastien Loeb 3:27:33.6 +2:30.6
4 Chris Atkinson 3:28:45.4 +3:42.4
5 Per Gunnar Andersson 3:30:15.9 +5:12.9
6 Toni Gardemeister 3:31:12.4 +6:09.4
7 Matthew Wilson 3:32:08.3 +7:05.3
8 Petter Solberg 3:38:22.9 +13:19.8

Day 2: Suzuki confirms pace and consistency with stage win on day two of Rally Japan

Earlier the young Swede and his SX4 WRC had shown some extremely promising pace, by setting second-fastest time on the opening stage of the day and climbing to joint fifth overall.

The stages were much faster and rougher than they had been on the opening day, providing a stark contrast for all the drivers and teams. Despite these extremely challenging conditions and some uncertain weather, both SX4 WRCs were very reliable throughout the 156 competitive kilometres that made up Saturday. In front of thousands of excited home fans, the Suzukis put in an extremely competitive performance in what is still only their first full season of competition.

The third and final day of the Rally Japan has an early start at 06:00 tomorrow before the first of nine stages and 96.43competitive kilometres that will decide the outcome of the rally and most likely this year's World Championship titles. Suzuki will start the last day of its home event with the firm aim of scoring driver points with both cars, and confirming the progress that has been consistently made since the start of the season.

Car news - Suzuki SX4 WRC n.11 (Gardemeister), n.12 (Andersson):
The cars had to face a variety of unknown conditions, with the Rally Japan being run on these stages for the very first time. Due to the soft ground and rough surfaces, the drivers had to select a tall enough ride height to get through the stages without problems but still guarantee precise handling.

In the afternoon the crews tackled a marathon run of six consecutive stages without service, including the longest stage of the rally at 33 kilometres, before the action concluded with two more passages through the spectator superspecial inside the famous Sapporo Dome, where Gardemeister set joint fastest time.

On the second run through the stages the roads cut up quite badly, leading to several rocks being pulled out onto the ideal racing line. At the 30-minute midday service halt, Andersson and Gardemeister both softened the suspension of their cars in order to improve traction on the slippery Japanese surfaces. The Suzukis were perfectly reliable throughout the day, although Gardemeister's SX4 WRC suffered from an overheating rear differential during the closing stages of the afternoon. With Gardemeister and Andersson now comfortably inside the driver points, the yellow cars are poised for a strong finish on the final day of the rally tomorrow.

Driver news:
Toni Gardemeister: "I'm very proud to have recorded Suzuki's first stage win! But the day has been tricky for us. In the morning I think we drove quite well, although the stages were so slippery and difficult that it was hard to analyse exactly what was going on. Then in the afternoon we had a problem with the rear differential. Nonetheless, we've got to the end of the day within the driver points and our aim is to try and build on that tomorrow. "

P-G Andersson: "What a day! It was a real shame we had the puncture, but the roads were so rough that it was inevitable this would happen to somebody. We came into a junction nine kilometres from the start and the soft ground just pulled the tyre off the wheel rim, so I had to stop and change it. That shouldn't take anything away from what has been an extremely positive day for us though. We've been second-fastest on a stage, fifth overall, and the car has been completely reliable: that's a sign of really solid progress."

Team news:
Shusuke Inagaki, Suzuki World Rally Team Director: "Considering that we have not yet even completed one full season of the championship, this event has gone very well for us so far. To be in the top eight is a great achievement, and we are very proud that our car has shown both performance and reliability. Tomorrow is another long day, so we need to stay fully concentrated all the way to the finish."

Day 1: Strong opening day for Suzuki on home territory

Both Suzuki SX4 WRC pilots are in the driver points at the end of the opening day of the Rally Japan, Suzuki's eagerly-anticipated home event. P-G Andersson returns to parc ferme in Sapporo holding a strong seventh place overall while his team mate Toni Gardemeister is eighth. After a trouble-free first day, the Suzuki drivers are both looking forward to another clean run through the stages tomorrow.

A number of incidents, underlining the drama of the World Rally Championship, affected the action today. Stages three and seven of the day were cancelled because of too much snow at high altitude, a characteristic of Hokkaido in winter. The sixth stage of the day was stopped, and the resulting delay also caused the cancellation of stage eight. The action ended with two runs through the spectacular spectator superspecial stage in the Sapporo Dome, where the cars raced side-by-side on a specially-designed circuit.

This was the first time that rally cars had ever raced together under a completely covered stadium, and it proved to be a huge hit with the thousands of excited Japanese fans.

Today's stages were narrow and very slippery, with plenty of mud. The weather remained cold and dry in the morning, but conditions turned wet in the evening. Tomorrow's action is faster and more open, with ten more special stages scheduled. The first car is due out of parc ferme at 07:30 before the 156.78 competitive kilometres that make up day two.

Gardemeister had an unusual start to the rally, when he had to take a Japanese driving test earlier in the week because his normal Monaco licence was not valid in Japan. Although he passed the test, he has to carry a special sticker on the back and the front of his car to indicate that his is an 'inexperienced' driver!

Car news - Suzuki SX4 WRC n.11 (Gardemeister), n.12 (Andersson):
With yesterday's shakedown test taking place on asphalt inside the Sapporo Dome, the stages today were a big leap into the unknown for the Suzuki drivers along with all the other crews. With only a 30-minute service between the first and second loop of stages, there was not enough time to make major changes to the car set-up during the day, but nonetheless the drivers were reasonably pleased with the handling of the SX4 WRC throughout the opening lap despite a general lack of traction and grip. The cars completed the asphalt superspecial on gravel tyres with a full gravel set-up, before the final 45-minute service of the day, where some changes were made to the suspension settings in preparation for day two. Both cars have been entirely reliable today, continuing Suzuki's recent progress. Consequently the drivers are comfortably inside the top eight and are well-poised to move up the leaderboard tomorrow.

Driver news:
Toni Gardemeister: "The stages this morning were very slippery, with some snow by the side of the road as well, so it was a struggle to find traction. We plan to make a few changes to the set-up tonight, so hopefully the car should be well-suited to the stages tomorrow. But we're already very pleased to be in the points and the plan is definitely to continue this way, without taking any risks. The superspecial stage was a lot of fun and I think it was a great show for everyone!"

P-G Andersson: "I'm very pleased to be back on gravel, which is my favourite surface, and I think we've got off to a good start. Today's stages were very technical and tricky: I think we will enjoy the stages tomorrow and on Sunday more. For the time being we are in a good position and the car has been very reliable; now we have to capitalise upon this and avoid making any mistakes."

Team news:
Shusuke Inagaki, Suzuki World Rally Team Director: "We are pleased with the way that Rally Japan has started for us, with both our cars in the driver points, but there is still a very long way to go over 19 stages, so we cannot draw any firm conclusions. The conditions have not been easy, but our drivers have so far found exactly the right balance between speed and safety, so I would urge them to continue at this pace. We've been delighted by all the support we have received from our local fans, which has been much appreciated."