Rallye de France-Tour de Corse, Sunday 12 October, day three: Suzuki scores a point in Corsica

The dramatic and challenging asphalt roads of Corsica have provided a
stimulating challenge for Suzuki that has enabled the team to learn many
valuable lessons for SX4 WRC's development in the future.

Toni Gardemeister also added to the team's constructors' score after three tough days
characterised by bumpy surfaces, unexpectedly warm temperatures and plenty
of action. Gardemeister finished 13th while his young team mate P-G
Andersson was 17th, having been delayed by an accident right at the end of
the second day. Despite this setback, it was a positive event for the
Japanese team, which has learnt a lot more about the new SX4 WRC on asphalt
and showed the pace to score points in both championships.

The final day of the Corsican event - which is the last asphalt rally of the
year - took in four lengthy stages including the longest speed test of the
entire event, making a total of 116 competitive kilometres on Sunday.
Although this long stage was previously used in 2007, the twist this year
was that it was run in the opposite direction, making it almost like a brand
new road. Throughout this challenging final leg, both Suzuki SX4 WRCs
displayed perfect reliability, adding to the impressive record of
consistency that the car has displayed since the mid-point of the season.

Conditions were once more dry and warm for the final day of the rally, which
took crews to the south of Ajaccio for two loops of two stages. During the
repeated stages, the drivers had to contend with plenty of loose gravel that
had been pulled onto the road by cars cutting the corners.

Car news - Suzuki SX4 WRC n.11 (Gardemeister), n.12 (Andersson):

Once more, both Suzuki SX4 WRCs performed impeccably - with only a minor
fuel pressure problem delaying Toni Gardemeister at the end of day two.
Prior to that, the Finn had been running consistently within the top eight
despite starting the rally with a flu-like illness. Gardemeister
experimented with different set-ups today to find more grip and traction,
which will be extremely useful for the future development of the SX4 WRC.

P-G Andersson struggled a little bit with his confidence, having been caught
out by a gravelly corner on day two that caused his car to slide into a
bank. He started the final day under the super rally system, and used it to
re-familiarise himself with the Corsican roads and refine his asphalt
driving technique. The young Swede also changed the set-up on his car
progressively, to find out more about how it behaves under a different set
of parameters. With temperatures generally cooler than they had been on the
previous day, the cars and Pirelli control tyres worked well over the four
stages.

Driver news:

Toni Gardemeister:

I started the rally feeling really ill but it gradually
got better over the next couple of days, which was a big relief as on Friday
afternoon it felt nearly impossible for me to drive. On the whole the car
was good and we made a lot of improvements over the course of the rally.
Today's stages were nice and I really enjoyed myself, but for us it was
mostly just a question of driving safely to the finish and making sure of
the point. Now we get back to gravel in Japan, which I am looking forward to
a lot!"

P-G Andersson:

The biggest problem I've had on this rally is with my
confidence. I went off the road on the last rally in Spain and unfortunately
the same thing happened again here. So on the last day I really wanted to
make sure that I had a safe run to the finish with no further setbacks.
Luckily the car felt very nice and I had a good feeling with it by the end.
I tried some softer suspension settings as well, which gave us some
interesting results. We're learning new things all the time, so I think we
can head to the last two rallies with confidence."

Team news:

Shusuke Inagaki, Suzuki World Rally Team Director: "Corsica has thrown up a
huge number of challenges as usual, including a differing selection of bumpy
roads and surfaces that range from extremely slippery to very abrasive. This
varied array of conditions has enabled us to test a large number of
different parameters on the SX4 WRC, which has been very valuable for the
continuing development of the car. Toni has struggled with illness on this
event so he has done an excellent job under the circumstances. P-G has felt
his lack of experience here, but he is improving a lot on this specialised
surface. Next up is our home event in Japan, which will be a very exciting
event for all of us. Of course we would love to do well on our home
territory!"

Images and article: Suzuki Press

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• Rallye de France-Tour de Corse (F), Saturday 11 October, day two (SS7-SS12): Up and down day for Suzuki on the twisty roads of Corsica
• Rally de France-Tour de Corse (F), Friday 10 October, day one (SS1-SS6): Suzuki in the points after strong opening day in Corsica
• Strong points finish for Suzuki Juniors in Corsica on Rallye de France – Tour de Corse