Monday, 7th July 2008

Suzuki team manager Paul Wilding has predicted that mid-top ten places should be possible soon.

by Rob Wilkins


Suzuki World Rally team manager Paul Wilding has said that the team is confident it will do better in the second half of the year, beginning with the Rally Finland at the start of next month.

Suzuki, which only graduated to the top level this season, has had a somewhat trying first half, but despite that there were still flashes of encouragement and the pace of the SX4 WRC car has been pretty promising. Indeed despite a number of reliability issues, Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson have combined to notch up ten manufacturers' points in total and the squad finally got its first two car finish on the Acropolis.

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Speaking exclusively to Crash.net Radio recently, Wilding added that they have 'fairly strong expectations' for the remaining seven events, especially as both drivers' will benefit from some new parts next time out.

"There have been a number of changes that have been made and those changes will come into effect in Finland," he explained.

"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.

"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 both know the event and hopefully with the test that we have planned beforehand we should be in fairly good shape for a result there."

Asked about the alterations to the SX4 WRC, Wilding added that the main focus has been on the hydraulics and the suspension.

"The hydraulics and suspension has been a couple of areas that has not been letting us down, but did need improving," he conceded. "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."

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