Suzuki team boss, Nobuhiro Tajima has that said that he is 'very pleased' that they managed to get the all-new SX4 WRC car to the finish in Corsica at the weekend - its maiden outing in the FIA World Rally Championship.

The event was an extremely significant one for the Japanese manufacturer as its gears to step up to the 'senior' level in 2008 and try and emulate the success it has achieved at the Junior level with the Swift Super 1600 - and prior to that the Ignis.

In the end Nicolas Bernardi was entrusted with driving the car on the Tour de Corse and he eventually finished in 31st place overall - although admittedly he did have to utilise the SupeRally twice, following problems on day 1 and 2.

He also had a hydraulic-related gearshift problem on the final day, but despite all of that posted some pretty respectable times, including one in the top ten.

"We're very pleased to get our all-new car to the finish of this event, which was our main objective here," said Tajima. "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."

Bernardi meanwhile also felt that they had gained much from the three-day 'test', collecting 'vital data that will be essential for development in the future'.

"We've been able to confirm a number of things we have discovered from our previous test programme and formulate some very clear ideas about the right direction for the future," he added.

"During the afternoon we had a problem that affected the gearshift, but it did not stop me from enjoying these fantastic roads!"

Suzuki will now resume testing with the SX4 WRC car, before Sebastian Lindholm drives it on the season ending, Wales Rally GB, which runs from November 30 to December 2.