Rally New Zealand 2008 will go down in the
Suzuki history books as the first time they got both of their cars inside the points as Per-Gunnar Andersson and
Toni Gardemeister avoided any drama for once to hold onto sixth and seventh places.
A largely trouble-free rally for the still developing SX4, Andersson had to overcome a puncture on
that stage but maintained a big enough gap back to his team-mate to record both his and team's best result yet. Furthermore, as the manufacturer takes home five well deserved points, the event has also shown Suzuki to be capable of producing decent stage times now. A corner has undoubtedly been turned.
Although they finish alongside each other on the timesheets,
Federico Villagra will be the only Munchi's Ford driver to come away with a point next to his name after a quiet, but typically solid event for the Argentine. He will also take pleasure in the fact he is the second classified Ford in the final order.
Still, while he is no less deserving of that point than many drivers, it must be said that ninth place for
Henning Solberg is a frustrating outcome after a tremendous performance in his Focus saw him climb up from 45th at the end of the opening leg. Losing huge amounts of time with power steering woes on the first loop of stages, Solberg mounted an outstanding comeback to win seven of the 18 stages to very nearly overhaul his team-mate for a hard fought single point. Still, while it wasn't to be, Solberg's performance was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the rally.
Of the remaining WRC runners,
Chris Atkinson diced with the leaders in the early stages before rolling his
Subaru out of contention. He rejoined on the second leg, but would crash out again on the final day to bring a dismal weekend to a dismal close.
Like Solberg,
Matthew Wilson's name spent more time than usual in the upper half of the stage time classification, but his hopes of a good result ended during day one when he was forced to retire with a gearbox problem.
