Suzuki World Rally Team
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| Full name | Suzuki World Rally Team |
|---|---|
| Team principal(s) | Nobuhiro Tajima[1] |
| Technical director | Shusuke Inagaki[2] |
| Chassis | Suzuki SX4 |
| Tyres | Pirelli |
| World Rally Championship career | |
| Debut | 2007 Tour de Corse[3] |
The Suzuki World Rally Team, also known as the Suzuki WRC Challenge was Suzuki's factory backed World Rally Championship team, as part of the Suzuki Sport organization. The team debuted for the first time at the 2007 Tour de Corse in France.[4] After just one full season in 2008, in which the team finished fifth in the manufacturers' championship, Suzuki announced that they would be pulling out of the WRC.[5] The decision was attributed to falling car sales caused by the economic crisis, although reports had surfaced that Suzuki were ready to abandon its WRC program before the economic downturn began.[6]
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] 2007
Testing of the Suzuki SX4 WRC car was conducted in Japan in February 2007, before relocating to Europe in March.[7] Gravel testing was undertaken in Southern France in April.[8]
The Suzuki SX4 WRC made a competitive debut in Corsica, at the 2007 Tour de Corse, driven by Nicolas Bernardi and co-driver Jean-Marc Fortin, and set several stage times just outside of the top ten.[3][9] The team also participated in 2007 Rally GB with driver Sebastian Lindholm and co-driver Tomi Tuominen.[4]
[edit] 2008
Drivers for the 2008 season were announced Monday, December 17th, to be Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson.[10] Technical Director Michel Nandan has been replaced by Shusuke Inagaki and Akira Kawada has been appointed as team manager.[2]
Suzuki scored on their proper debut with Andersson finishing eighth in the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally, with Suzuki getting two points in the manufacturers' title race. In the 2008 Swedish Rally, Gardemeister finished seventh, earning Suzuki three more manufacturers' points.[11] Both of these early races were marred by engine problems due to faulty head gaskets, with Gardemeister retiring from the Monte Carlo Rally and Andersson retiring from the Swedish Rally, before both cars retired from the Rally of Mexico.[12]
After struggling with reliability issues for several rallies, Suzuki achieved their best result in New Zealand, with Andersson finishing sixth and Gardemeister seventh. At their home event, the 2008 Rally Japan, the team did even better and took fifth and sixth places. During a super special stage in the Sapporo Dome, Gardemeister also gave Suzuki and the SX4 WRC their first stage win. Andersson challenged for a podium in the early stages of Rally GB before going on to finish fifth, while Gardemeister finished seventh ahead of the works Ford of Mikko Hirvonen.
[edit] WRC Results
| Year | Car | No | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Points | TC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Suzuki SX4 WRC | 19 |  Nicolas Bernardi |
MON | SWE | NOR | MEX | POR | ARG | ITA | GRE | FIN | GER | NZL | ESP | FRA 31 |
JPN | IRE | - | 0 | - | 0 | |
 Sebastian Lindholm |
GBR 27 |
- | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Suzuki SX4 WRC | 11 | Toni Gardemeister |
MON Ret |
SWE 7 |
MEX Ret |
ARG Ret |
JOR Ret |
ITA Ret |
GRE 9 |
TUR Ret |
FIN 8 |
GER 10 |
NZL 7 |
ESP 13 |
FRA 13 |
JPN 6 |
GBR 7 |
13th | 10 | 5th | 34 | |
| 12 |  Per-Gunnar Andersson |
MON 8 |
SWE Ret |
MEX Ret |
ARG 24 |
JOR Ret |
ITA 9 |
GRE 11 |
TUR Ret |
FIN Ret |
GER 15 |
NZL 6 |
ESP 32 |
FRA 17 |
JPN 5 |
GBR 5 |
12th | 12 |
[edit] Gallery
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SX4 WRC in Paris in 2006.
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SX4 WRC at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show.
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PG Andersson at the 2008 Rallye Deutschland.
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Gardemeister at the 2008 Rally Japan.
[edit] References
- ^ Suzuki WRC Press Room: Home
- ^ a b "WRC: Suzuki appoints new technical manager". Crash.net. 2008-01-02. http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/158393-0/suzuki_appoints_new_technical_manager.html. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
- ^ a b [1][dead link]
- ^ a b "RallySport Magazine - Suzuki WRC - the dream has begun". Rallysportmag.com.au. 2007-10-12. http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2008&Itemid=2. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
- ^ "Suzuki suspends its WRC programme". wrc.com. 2008-12-15. http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=3532&desc=Suzuki%20suspends%20its%20WRC%20programme. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
- ^ David Evans (2008-05-02). "Suzuki's WRC future in question". Autosport.com. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67077. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
- ^ New Suzuki SX4 WRC to begin European Test Programme
- ^ "SUZUKI WRC CHALLENGE | Reports | Test Report #01 SX4 WRC moves on to European tests". Suzuki-wrc.com. http://www.suzuki-wrc.com/report/test1/e/index.html. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
- ^ PaddockTalk. "Corsica Rally: Suzuki WRC Leg 1 Recap - SX4 Debuts". PaddockTalk. http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=69190. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
- ^ WRC: Official: Suzuki names drivers for '08.
- ^ World Rally Championship - News - Gardemeister takes Suzukiâs best WRC result to date[dead link]
- ^ "World Rally Championship - News - P-G Andersson out of Rally Sweden - UPDATED". Wrc.com. http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=257&desc=P-G%20Andersson%20out%20of%20Rally%20Sweden%20-%20UPDATED. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
[edit] External links
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