Toni Gardemeister has insisted that the
Suzuki World Rally Team is 'definitely on the right road', despite the fact he had to retire for the fifth time this year on the Rally d'Italia Sardegna last weekend.
Gardemeister was running in ninth on day two of the Olbia-based round, when a suspension problem sidelined him in the penultimate test.
While he re-started on day three under the SupeRally, he went out again after the mid-morning service, when his SX4 WRC developed an electrical glitch.
Despite the difficulties though - and the fact he has only got one finish with the SX4 under his belt, following that strong seventh place on the Uddeholm Swedish Rally back in February - Toni remains upbeat.
Indeed in total he managed to set eight top ten stages times from the 13 tests he took in competitively in Sardinia, his best a sixth quickest time on day 1 in SS2, the 33.96 kilometre-run through Crastazza 1.
"It's not been a perfect rally for us, but the most important thing is that the team has completed lots of valuable development work on the car and proved with P-G [Andersson] that we can have a good level of reliability," he reflected.
"It's always tough in your first year, but I think now we are really beginning to turn a corner and make some solid progress.
"I have always said that when the car is running reliably it can be a good package, and I think we have shown some potential on this rally. Of course there is plenty of work still to do but we are definitely on the right road," he added.
