by Rob Wilkins


Toni Gardemeister has confirmed that he will be targeting top-eight finishes in 2008, when he returns to the FIA World Rally Championship in a full-time capacity with the Suzuki World Rally Team.

Gardemeister has had to make do with just selected outings in the WRC the last two years, after he was somewhat harshly dropped by Ford at the end of 2005.

Despite only competing on a privateer basis though and with virtually no testing, the Finn has continued to impress, notching up eight points finishes from ten outings during that two-year spell in the wilderness, his best results in '07 coming in Sweden and Sardinia, when he finished sixth overall in a Mitsubishi Lancer WRC.

Now poised for a complete season in 2008 and back in a works seat, the Finn can't wait for the off: "It is a two year deal at the moment - and that is very good news," he told Crash.net Radio. "We will have a little bit of time to develop the car and try and achieve some good results.

"It will of course be a development year in 2008, but I expect that Suzuki will be able to get some points. That is the main goal.

"We will try and go step-by-step and develop the car so it is quicker and quicker during the year. Hopefully the car will be faster at the end of the year than at the start."

Asked about the all-new SX4 WRC car, Toni added that while he has only done two small tests to date - one on tarmac and one on asphalt - his first impressions were very positive.

"First of all I was quite surprised and quite pleased - especially when you consider the kilometres and development they have done. The car is already quite good in my opinion," he continued.

So how long will it take Suzuki to get up with Ford, Citroen and Subaru?

"They have a lot of experience and we start from quite a low level in comparison, because Suzuki hasn't done so many rallies yet with its World Rally Car - the SX4. But next year if we get some points then in 2009 we can go after better results," he explained. "It is going to take two or three years though to get the best results."