Suzuki celebrates with both SX4 WRCs in the points in New Zealand

The final day of Rally New Zealand took crews to some of the most photographed and talked about stages on the whole World Rally Championship calendar. The Te Hutewai and Whaanga Coast stages go as far west of the rally base in Hamilton as possible - they run along the headland of the Tasman Sea. Both Suzuki drivers Toni Gardemeister and P-G Andersson were looking forward to the stages, which are as much a treat for the drivers as they are for the spectators. And they turned out to be a fitting setting for Suzuki's best World Rally Championship finish yet, with Andersson climbing the leaderboard through the final day to sixth and his team-mate Gardemeister finishing just one place further back in seventh place. It was no wonder the drivers received such a rapturous welcome back into Hamilton from the local Kiwi fans and everybody in the Suzuki World Rally Team. A trouble-free run to seven points on one of the toughest rallies in the world was the perfect result for everybody.

Andersson's only problem through the final day's 85 kilometres of competitive action was a double puncture on the penultimate stage, beyond that both Suzuki SX4 WRCs ran without any technical faults - as they have done for all three days and 353 kilometres of Rally New Zealand.

Toni Gardemeister: "I really enjoy these roads and today, like every day on this rally, the SX4 WRC worked very well. I had a spin on the long one this morning, it was quite tough to find the feeling on the gravel in there, but after that the day has been getting better and better. The team has worked really hard for this and we deserve the points and the finish. I'm really happy."

Paul Wilding, Suzuki World Rally Team manager: "As you can imagine, I'm pretty delighted with the way things have gone. This is a great payback for all the incredible hard work everybody in the team has put in. We have all worked tirelessly towards seeing the Suzuki SX4 WRC show this kind of reliability and pace. There's more to come, but for now we're all just going to enjoy this result. Fantastic!"

Final positions
1. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 3hr 59min 18.9sec
2. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 3hr 59min 36.4sec
3. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 4hr 00min 00.4sec
4. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Subaru Impreza 4hr 02min 07.8sec
5. U Aava/K Sikk EST Citroen C4 4hr 02min 49.6sec
6. P-G Andersson/J Andersson SWE Suzuki SX4 4hr 06min 56.3sec
7. T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FIN Suzuki SX4 4hr 07min 13.8sec
8. F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS 4hr 07min 53.9sec
9. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 4hr 08min 34.1sec
10 M Prokop/J Tomanek CZE Mitsubishi Lancer 4hr 13min 07.9sec