Nicolas Bernardi opted to retire the all-new Suzuki SX4 WRC car in only its third competitive stage on Friday after a warning light came on and appeared to indicate the engine was overheating.
Bernardi, who had set the 15th fastest time in SS2 and an eleventh quickest time in SS3, was running just outside the top ten, when halfway through SS4 - Monti Rossu 1, he noticed what he thought was a problem. As such he chose to retire from the leg in order to preserve the car and give
Suzuki's engineers the best possible chance of identifying the problem.
Once the car was returned to the service area at Ajaccio though, it was discovered that the temperature warning light related to hydraulic fluid rather than water - and that the engine of the SX4 WRC was completely undamaged.
"On SS4 I noticed a warning light that said the car was overheating, and I called the team to ask for advice," explained the Frenchman. "Unfortunately the line was extremely bad and it was not easy to describe the warning light that we had seen.
"Rather than risk any further engine damage that could compromise our testing campaign, we decided to switch it off. The ironic thing is that this was completely unnecessary. We've learnt a lot of lessons today - but this was not one that we expected!
"We had no problems at all in the morning, which was extremely encouraging but to be honest we were not pushing really hard. It felt good to set times so close to the top 10 - but this was not at all the objective."
Suzuki WRT team boss, Nobuhiro Tajima meanwhile was philosophical about the mix-up. He also confirmed that Bernardi will re-join the fold on day 2 under the SupeRally format.
"It's been a very exciting day, and I'm proud of the performance of our team under these very challenging conditions. The circumstances of our 'retirement' today were bizarre, but we look at every problem or misunderstanding as just an opportunity to learn more," he added. "Before then, the SX4 WRC had shown some very encouraging potential and we hope to continue like this tomorrow."
