The Suzuki World Rally Team, also known as the Suzuki WRC Challenge, was Suzuki's factory backed World Rally Championship team, as part of the Suzuki Sport organization. The team debuted for the first time at the 2007 Tour de Corse in France. After just one full season in 2008, in which the team finished fifth in the manufacturers' championship, Suzuki announced that they would be pulling out of the WRC. The decision was attributed to falling car sales caused by the economic crisis, although reports had surfaced that Suzuki were ready to abandon its WRC program before the economic downturn began.

History

JWRC (2002–2007)

In 2002 Suzuki began competing in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship with a Super 1600 version of the Ignis. The following year it won two events with Daniel Carlsson and in 2004 it won the FIA Junior World Rally Championship title with Per-Gunnar Andersson. To gain experience of all the rallies in the series, Suzuki contested all 16-rounds of the WRC in 2005 and introduced a new model, the Swift S1600 in Finland. British driver Guy Wilks finished runner-up in that year's championship. In 2007 the team had its best ever year in the J-WRC. Andersson won the title for the second time, while Urmo Aava finished second in the standings in an identical Swift S1600.

2007 Testing of the Suzuki SX4 WRC car was conducted in Japan in February 2007, before relocating to Europe in March.New Suzuki SX4 WRC to begin European Test Programme Gravel testing was undertaken in Southern France in April.

The Suzuki SX4 WRC made a competitive debut in Corsica, at the 2007 Tour de Corse, driven by Nicolas Bernardi and co-driver Jean-Marc Fortin, and set several stage times just outside the top ten. The team also participated in 2007 Rally GB with driver Sebastian Lindholm and co-driver Tomi Tuominen.

2008

Drivers for the 2008 season were announced Monday, December 17, to be Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson.WRC: Official: Suzuki names drivers for '08. Technical Director Michel Nandan has been replaced by Shusuke Inagaki and Akira Kawada has been appointed as team manager.

Suzuki scored on their proper debut with Andersson finishing eighth in the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally, with Suzuki getting two points in the manufacturers' title race. In the 2008 Swedish Rally, Gardemeister finished seventh, earning Suzuki three more manufacturers' points. Both of these early races were marred by engine problems due to faulty head gaskets, with Gardemeister retiring from the Monte Carlo Rally and Andersson retiring from the Swedish Rally, before both cars retired from the Rally of Mexico.

After struggling with reliability issues for several rallies, Suzuki achieved their best result in New Zealand, with Andersson finishing sixth and Gardemeister seventh. At their home event, the 2008 Rally Japan, the team did even better and took fifth and sixth places. During a super special stage in the Sapporo Dome, Gardemeister also gave Suzuki and the SX4 WRC their first stage win. Andersson challenged for a podium in the early stages of Rally GB before going on to finish fifth, while Gardemeister finished seventh ahead of the works Ford of Mikko Hirvonen.

WRC Results

JWRC Year Entrant Car No Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 JWRC Points 2002 Suzuki Sport Suzuki Ignis S1600 59 Juha Kangas MON9 ESP11 GRERet GERRet ITA14 GBRRet – 0 68 Niki Schelle MON6 ESP8 GRERet GER3 ITA7 GBRRet 8th 5 75 Kazuhiko Niwa MONRet ESPRet GRERet GER9 ITA GBRRet – 0 2003 Suzuki Sport Suzuki Ignis S1600 52 Daniel Carlsson MONEX TURRet GRE2 FIN1 ITARet ESP4 GBR1 3rd 33 64 Ville-Pertti Teuronen MONRet TUR4 GRERet FINRet ITA4 ESP6 GBR3 6th 19 69 Salvador Cañellas MONRet TUR2 GRE4 FIN5 ITA2 ESP3 GBR4 2nd 36 71 Urmo Aava MON4 TURRet GRE3 FIN4 ITARet ESP5 GBRRet 4th 20 2004 Suzuki Sport Suzuki Ignis S1600 31 Mirco Baldacci MON6 GRERet TUR6 FIN4 GBRRet ITA3 ESP3 5th 23 32 Urmo Aava MON2 GRERet TUR5 FIN5 GBRRet ITARet ESPRet 8th 16 33 Guy Wilks MONRet GRE1 TUR3 FINRet GBR1 ITA2 ESPRet 3rd 34 35 Kosti Katajamäki MONRet GRERet TUR2 FIN2 GBR3 ITA4 ESP5 4th 31 43 Jari-Matti Latvala MON GRE TUR FINRet GBR4 ITARet ESP9 13th 5 45 Per-Gunnar Andersson MON8 GRERet TUR1 FIN1 GBRRet ITA1 ESP2 1st 39 2005 Suzuki Sport Europe Suzuki Ignis S1600 31 Per-Gunnar Andersson MON6 MEX2 ITA5 GRE1 6th 30 Suzuki Swift S1600 FINRet GER4 FRA ESPRet Suzuki Ignis S1600 32 Guy Wilks MON7 MEX1 ITA6 GRE2 2nd 35 Suzuki Swift S1600 FIN3 GER3 FRA ESPRet Suzuki Ignis S1600 33 Kosti Katajamäki MON2 MEX ITARet GRE4 FINRet GER5 FRA3 ESP2 5th 31 36 Urmo Aava MONRet MEX ITA2 GRE3 FIN2 GERRet FRA4 ESP4 4th 32 2006 Suzuki Sport Europe Suzuki Swift S1600 33 Urmo Aava SWE3 ESP FRA2 ARG ITA3 GER FINDSQ TUR1 GBR9 2nd 31 35 Per-Gunnar Andersson SWE1 ESP FRA ARG3 ITA4 GER FIN2 TURDSQ GBRRet 3rd 29 37 Pavel Valoušek SWE4 ESP FRARet ARG ITA14 GER3 FIN12 TUR13 GBR 15th 11 43 Jaan Mölder SWE ESP FRA ARG ITA GER FIN TUR GBR1 9th 18 48 Guy Wilks SWE9 ESP FRA ARG1 ITA8 GER FIN1 TUR4 GBR11 4th 26 2007 Suzuki Sport Europe Suzuki Swift S1600 33 Urmo Aava NOR3 POR2 ITA1 FIN GER2 ESP3 FRARet 2nd 38 36 Jaan Mölder NOR4 POR4 ITA5 FIN13 GER6 ESP6FRA 5th 20 42 Aigar Pärs NOR12 POR14 ITARet FINRet GER8 ESP FRARet 21st 1 43 Vilius Rožukas NOR11 POR8 ITA9 FIN6 GER ESP FRA 12th 4 45 Per-Gunnar Andersson NOR1 POR1 ITA2 FIN GER ESP1 FRA4 1st 43 James Wozencroft NOR POR ITA FIN GER13 ESP FRA – 0 2008 Suzuki Sport Europe Suzuki Swift S1600 32 Jaan Mölder MEX2 JORRet ITA9 FINRet GER ESP6 FRA11 8th 11 35 Michał Kościuszko MEX3 JORRet ITA1 FIN3 GER ESP9 FRARet 5th 22 43 Florian Niegel MEX JOR4 ITARet FIN GER8 ESP10 FRA7 11th 8 60 Pierre Marche MEX JOR ITA FIN GER ESP FRA4 15th 5 2009 Suzuki Sport Europe Suzuki Swift S1600 31 Aaron Burkart IRE1 CYP3 POR ARG2 ITA3 POL FIN4 ESP5 3rd 39 32 Michał Kościuszko IRE CYP2 POR1 ARG1 ITA2 POLRet FIN3 ESP 2nd 42 33 Simone Bertolotti IRE3 CYP POR6 ARG ITA7 POL5 FIN6 ESP2 6th 26 2010 Suzuki Sport Europe Suzuki Swift S1600 21 Aaron Burkart TUR1 POR3 BUL GER2 FRA5 ESP4 1st 80 World Rally Team Estonia 30 Karl Kruuda TUR6 POR2 BUL5 GER3 FRA ESP 4th 51

WRC Year Car No Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points TC Points 2007 Suzuki SX4 WRC 19 Nicolas Bernardi MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRE FIN GER NZL ESP FRA31 JPN IRE – 0 – 0 Sebastian Lindholm GBR27 – 0 2008 Suzuki SX4 WRC 11 Toni Gardemeister MONRet SWE7 MEXRet ARGRet JORRet ITARet GRE9 TURRet FIN8 GER10 NZL7 ESP13 FRA13 JPN6 GBR7 13th 10 5th 34 12 Per-Gunnar Andersson MON8 SWERet MEXRet ARG24 JORRet ITA9 GRE11 TURRet FINRet GER15 NZL6 ESP32 FRA17 JPN5 GBR5 12th 12

Gallery

References

External links

Official website (Japanese)