Suzuki gives up all chances of performing well in Jordan

After eight stages and the first day, a sad outcome for Suzuki, who didn’t even manage to finish three… The Japanese team lacks reliability this weekend in Jordan for the 5th round of the 2008 season, as too often.

The Finnish driver Toni Gardemeister’s SX4 stopped 5 kilometers after the start of the day’s 3rd special stage, Mount Nebo. He was in 10th place overall. His retirement worsens the situation for the young Suzuki team, as his teammate PG Andersson has also retired.

Suzuki must examine the car tonight before giving the exact cause of this withdrawal, but it is likely a motor problem. The team hopes that Gardemeister will be able to resume the race tomorrow as part of the SupeRally. The Finnish driver’s car was already losing oil at the end of stage 2.

Per-Gunnar Andersson, for his part, abandoned the race from the very first stage… He stated that the incident was entirely his fault.

« After 6 kilometers, I approached a left/right sequence too quickly and went off. It’s my fault, I was going too fast », declared the Suzuki driver.

« The back of the car slid and we got stuck in a pile of soft dirt. It took us some time to find planks to put under the wheels and we were able to set off again. The car wasn’t damaged, but we lost too much time and had to abandon. We will restart tomorrow in SupeRally. »

Andersson also said that he had to deal with a slow puncture after hitting a rock shortly after the start, but that it did not affect his accident: « Here the greatest difficulty comes from the lack of grip, it’s a very difficult surface to handle. »

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