The
Suzuki World Rally Team has confirmed that both
Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson will
not re-start on Sunday in Turkey under the SupeRally format.
Gardemeister, who had been running ninth overall, went out in the second stage of the day, SS11 - the 27.36 kilometre-run through Silyon 1, when his car began to overheat.
"We were about half way through the stage when I noticed the car was starting to lose power," he explained. "Then the engine temperature was going up. I thought this could be because we were in a very twisty section of the stage - it's normal for the temperature to rise in this condition. But when it carried on going up, then I knew we had to switch off - the radiator was broken."
Per-Gunnar Andersson meanwhile also had difficulties in that test, although his car was sidelined by an electrical glitch. The Swede had been running twelfth overall.
"I was really looking forward to driving the SX4 WRC again today. It had been a really exciting day behind the wheel yesterday and I wanted to show what we could do again on day two," he continued. "The time in the first stage was good, we were in the top 10 again.
"But then a couple of hundred metres off the start line in SS11 the car stopped. Yes, it's disappointing not to finish, but look at the times - we were setting top six times yesterday, which shows how far the car has come."
Gardemeister also reckons things are looking good and he is looking forward to trying to exploit the new things on the car in the second half of the season.
"There are positives to take away from this rally," he added. "We have been quick, quicker than before with the gap regularly below one second per kilometre down on the leader.
"The next round of the championship takes us home to Finland and that's an event I'm really, really looking forward to. We will have a test and some new parts to come from the car. It's nice to know the SX4 WRC will be even faster when we get to my home."
