Gardemester retired again due electrical problems
Hallinta Hoop, 18.5.2008
Toni Gardemeister was not lucky, having retired from day two with broken suspension and failing to finish the final day. Nonetheless, the Suzuki World Rally Team achieved its key objective of improving the reliability of the SX4 WRC in every area, and building solid foundations for the future.
Sardinia is renowned as one of the toughest events on the World Rally Championship, because of its hard surfaces and sharp rocks. Conditions were made even more difficult this year by the unseasonably wet weather, which caused the road surfaces to degrade and exposed yet more sharp rocks. Despite these obstacles, P-G steered clear of trouble to end the rally just outside the points, having proved that Suzuki¹s decision to put the accent on reliability during this event has paid off. Having learnt several valuable lessons for the future, the team is now feeling confident for the next two rough gravel events in the Mediterranean: Greece and Turkey.
Toni Gardemeister¹s car developed an electrical glitch after the mid-morning service that meant he was unable to finish the rally today, but Andersson¹s car was perfect from start to finish and again reported no problems at all today. Following a steep learning curve on the previous rally in Jordan, the Suzuki team had introduced several important new measures designed to enhance the underbody protection and improve the cooling on the SX4 WRC. These evolutions worked well, despite the extremely tough conditions of Sardinia, and further improvements are planned for the next round in Greece the legendary Acropolis Rally which takes place in two weeks¹ time.
Toni Gardemeister: ³It¹s not been a perfect rally for us, but the most important thing is that the team has completed lots of valuable development work on the car and proved with P-G that we can have a good level of reliability. It¹s always tough in your first year, but I think now we are really beginning to turn a corner and make some solid progress. I have always said that when the car is running reliably it can be a good package, and I think we have shown some potential on this rally. Of course there is plenty of work still to do but we are definitely on the right road.²
Final positions
1. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 3hr 57min 17.2sec
2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 57min 27.8sec
3. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 57min 32.5sec
4. G Galli/G Bernacchini ITA Ford Focus RS 3hr 58min 59.7sec
5. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 3hr 59min 22.8sec
6. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 4hr 02min 25.8sec
7. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 4hr 03min 18.2sec
8. U Aava/K Sikk EST Citroen C4 4hr 03min 38.5sec
9. P-G Andersson/J Andersson SWE Suzuki SX4 4hr 05min 05.9sec
10 P Solberg/P Mills NOR Subaru Impreza 4hr 06min 58.2sec