"I was very happy with the performance of the SX4 WRC in Monte Carlo. When things were going well we were less than a second a kilometre off the frontrunners, which is really good for the first rally," noted Gardemeister.
"In Sweden I’m going to try to score some points, and I think we have a strong chance of achieving this judging by the performance and reliability showed by the SX4 WRC during the pre-Sweden test a few weeks ago. I’m hoping a bit more snow will fall before the rally starts.
"I remember that last year the snow came very late, just before the rally got underway."
Per-Gunnar Andersson meanwhile is keeping his targets in check for his home event, despite his form on the Monte.
P-G managed to finish eighth on round 1, to score points on his first outing in a WRC car and to give
Suzuki two manufacturers’ points on its first ‘proper’ outing with the all-new SX4 WRC car. The 27-year-old will now compete in front of his home fans and he will definitely be able to draw on a lot of local knowledge, as he comes from the village of Argang, around 100 kilometres down the road from the stages.
"Scoring a driver’s point in Monte Carlo with the SX4 WRC has given me a real boost going into my home rally, and I’m feeling quite confident," he noted.
"But of course it will actually be harder to get a good result in Sweden than it was in Monte Carlo, as there will be more local experts and also a higher number of entries. If we can finish in the top ten that would be a great result.
"I think there should be enough ice on the stages to find good grip, but if there is not so much snow then the speeds will be even faster than usual. Whatever happens, I’m looking forward to it!"
Production Car WRC:
Round 1 of 8, Arai begins defence.
Toshi Arai will begin his bid to defend his PWRC crown this weekend in Sweden. Arai took the Production honours for the second time in ‘07 and the Japanese driver will now want to try and add a third triumph to his CV.
