The times that the two SX4 WRC cars were showing in Turkey were by far to date the best times the car has shown - and the best speed. We managed to get both cars there under half a second a kilometre to the fastest vehicle, which happened to be
Jari-Matti Latvala, who was significantly faster than everyone else on a few stages. We are very, very pleased with that and the problems that eventually occurred in Turkey were not problems that we have had occur to us before. We will address those and hopefully we will be in much better shape for the next rally.
Crash.net:
What are
Suzuki's targets for the second half of the season?
PW:
We have got fairly strong expectations. There have been a number of changes that have been made and those changes will come into effect in Finland. We are planning on doing a test prior to Finland, which should concentrate mainly on the handling of the car and ensuring that the changes that we have made, are working correctly. We anticipate that they will do. But overall we are hoping to increase the reliability and also increase more on the speed as well. We have got two confident drivers and both P-G and Toni have done well in Finland in the past. They know the event and hopefully with the test that we have planned beforehand we should be in fairly good shape for a result there.
Crash.net:
Are the changes for Finland big?
PW:
I don't know completely what the changes are. But I have been told that they have mainly concentrated on the hydraulics and suspension side of the car. It has been a couple of areas that has not been letting us down, but did need improving. From a speed point of view I think we have got that. Now it is just a matter of fine-tuning it in the remaining half of the season. We are very confident and we are looking forward to it.
Crash.net:
There was some speculation the team might run three cars in New Zealand. I understand that is not correct.
PW:
No, that is not correct. I have actually done a little bit of research to try and find out where those stories have come from, but no - it is totally not correct. Nobody from our side has implied that. From my perspective we have no plans to run a third car in New Zealand. It is purely just speculation.
Crash.net:
How much testing is the team doing during this long break?
PW:
During this break, the same as the other teams, we are busy re-stocking our vehicles and building the cars for Finland. We will have a couple of new cars in Finland as well. Obviously we have got a lot of parts that need to be swapped over and re-stocking that needs to be done. As far as the actual testing that is going on apart from individual component testing, which is not done actually on the vehicle, the testing that we will do will be limited to or concentrated on a test just prior to the Rally Finland itself. That is the extent of it at this stage.
Crash.net:
How has the team rated the performances of
Toni Gardemeister and P-G Andersson?
PW:
We are very pleased. The drivers' are a little bit disappointed that they haven't been able to show more speed. But the focus for us as an entire team has been to get the car to the finish at each event and that has meant we have had to sacrifice a little bit of speed. No driver wants to be told just to make it to the finish. No driver wants to be told to slow down and preserve the car. But the purpose for us is to make the car into as strong a rally car as possible and as reliable a rally car as possible. If it means we have to sacrifice a couple of events worth of speed to make sure the car is in perfect shape for the rest of the year then we just have to do it. Both drivers are very, very encouraged by the speed though and they are both very pleased with the progress that has been made so far. Hopefully as the year progresses we will be able to let the leash out and let them have a bit more of a run. I am sure that you will see a big difference in Finland.
![Paul Wilding. Suzuki World Rally Team. Team manager. [Pic credit: Suzuki WRT / McKlein]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/463082.jpg)
