2007 Suzuki SX4 WRC

Suzuki Motor Corporation is pleased to announce that the Suzuki World Rally Team's Gardemeister from Finland and Per-Gunnar Andersson from Sweden.
Toni Gardemeister combines impressive experience and versatility as a driver with a great ability to contribute to car development. As the Suzuki World Rally Team's primary driver throughout the 2008 WRC season, he will play an important role in fine-tuning the Suzuki SX4 WRC car.
Per-Gunnar Andersson won the 2004 Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) in a Suzuki Ignis and the 2007 Junior Rally Championship in a Suzuki Swift, so he's already a valued member of the Suzuki World Rally Team as he steps up to the bigger challenges of the WRC.
Joining Toni Gardemeister as co-driver will be fellow Finn Tomi Tuominen, who was also co-driver for the Suzuki SX4 WRC car's test entry in the Wales Rally GB. Codriver for Per-Gunnar Andersson will be fellow Swede Jonas Andersson. The Swedes have already raced successfully together in the Super 1600 category.
Suzuki Motor Corporation and its affiliate Suzuki Sport are supporting the Suzuki World Rally Team with technical and managerial know-how and resources. They see the Suzuki WRC challenge as a great chance to raise the profile of Suzuki products and gain technical data that will be valuable in future car development.

Source - Suzuki

In preparation for the 2008 WRC season , Suzuki has decided to enter two events in 2007 for the purpose of further testing and development of the SX4 WRC car in competition conditions.
The events that have been selected for this testing opportunity chosen are the Rallye De France …… and Wales Rally GB.
During each of these events, the team only has three days to try and collect as much data as possible from the car, it is the only opportunity to make changes and see the effect of these changes in ‘real time'.

Source - Suzuki

Productive weekend for Suzuki in Corsica

The Rallye de France - Tour de Corse finished today with four special stages, run as two loops of two with service at Ajaccio in between. The action today consisted of classic Corsica stages, with several tight hairpin bends and plenty of loose gravel on the road where previous cars had cut the corners. This tested traction and grip to the maximum, forming a valuable part of Suzuki's testing programme on the Rallye de France. The event also constituted the final round of the Junior Rally Championship, which was won by a Suzuki Swift Super 1600.
Car news - Suzuki SX4 WRC n.19:
The Suzuki SX4 WRC crew of Nicolas Bernardi and Jean-Marc Fortin were delighted to reach the finish of their car's debut event. The aim for them on this rally has been to continue the development programme on asphalt, and throughout the three days of the Rallye de France the team has been able to sample a wide variety of asphalt conditions.
The car re-started under the super rally system this morning, having been halted by an unforeseen fuel injector problem yesterday. It ran without major problems throughout today's four stages, totalling 112 competitive kilometres, although Bernardi was slowed by a hydraulic-related gearshift problem, which meant that the car was sometimes reluctant to change gear. Nonetheless he brought it safely to the finish, having collected vital data that will be essential for development in the future.





Team news:
The team has done what it set out to do in Corsica, learning some valuable lessons that will contribute to the future development of the SX4 WRC. Nobuhiro Tajima, team principal of the Suzuki World Rally Team, commented: 'We're very pleased to get our all-new car to the finish of this event, which was our main objective here. Today's hydraulic problem was a small inconvenience, but it is all part of the process of testing. This experience has taught us a lot, and we now have several ideas about how we will work on fine-tuning the development of our car..'


The Suzuki World Rally Team's next event will be the all-gravel Rally Great Britain, round 16 of the World Rally Championship, from November 30-December 2. Sebastian Lindholm will drive the SX4 WRC, co-driven by Tomi Tuominen.

Source - Suzuki

Suzuki pleased with gravel debut on Rally Great Britain

Suzuki has successfully completed the all-gravel Rally Great Britain, the second World Championship Rally of the Japanese firm's testing programme this year.
Despite the extremely difficult and slippery conditions, Finnish driver Sebastian Lindholm got the all-new SX4 WRC to the end of the event in order to accumulate more valuable testing distance and try out some different set-ups. Today's final leg of the event - which is also the last round of the 2007 World Rally Championship - consisted of four demanding special stages, totalling 114 competitive kilometres.
Car news - Suzuki SX4 WRC No.19:
The Suzuki engineers continued to assess the car in the mud and gravel of Great Britain, having been pleased by the general level of reliability of the SX4 WRC on its very first loose-surface event. On the opening day, the team was hit with bad luck when a sharp stone severed a brake pipe but on the remaining two legs the car ran reliably and consistently all day. Lindholm worked at refining suspension settings on the final day of the rally, which was again characterised by extremely bad weather.





'We've done a lot of useful work throughout this event, and gathered a lot of information that will be crucial for the future,' said the 46 year-old Lindholm, who last competed on the Rally Great Britain in 1998 finishing fifth. 'Our objective from the beginning of this rally was simply to get to the end: we weren't even looking at the stage times or taking any risks. The conditions throughout all three days were very bad, but this is typical of Wales so it was a very good learning experience for us.'

Team news:
The Suzuki World Rally Team came away from the Rally Great Britain with plenty of information that will be vital for the car's development in the future.

Source - Suzuki