WRC
Rally Deutschland: Suzuki leg two summary
Suzuki just outside the points after strong second day in Germany The second day of the Rallye Deutschland is renowned as one of the toughest days on the entire World Rally Championship calendar, with the crews facing the fearsome Baumholder ...
Published: Aug 17, 2008, 11:53 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Suzuki just outside the points after strong second day in Germany
The second day of the Rallye Deutschland is renowned as one of the toughest days on the entire World Rally Championship calendar, with the crews facing the fearsome Baumholder stages made up of fast concrete roads through a military camp. No mistakes go unpunished, as the stages are flanked by imposing 'hinkelsteins' - large stone blocks - and there are also many high kerbs. Despite all these hazards, the Suzuki SX4 WRC of Toni Gardemeister returns to parc ferme in the historic city of Trier this evening holding a solid 10th overall, and he is well-placed to take advantage of any opportunities to record another points-scoring finish tomorrow.
His young team mate P-G Andersson, competing in Germany for the first time since 2005, started the day just half a second behind Gardemeister. Unfortunately he was caught out by a tricky corner on SS8 and broke a driveshaft. He had to deal with the problem for two further stages before service and dropped a lot of time, ending up 16th overnight.
Today's action consisted of eight stages and 157 competitive kilometres, with the weather remaining dry and warm despite some predicted rain. Just 84 competitive kilometres now separate the Suzuki drivers from the finish ramp tomorrow in Trier.
Car news - Suzuki SX4 WRC n.11 (Gardemeister), n.12 (Andersson):
Both drivers continued to work on the asphalt set-up of the car, not having competed on a sealed-surface event since Monte Carlo in January. The SX4 WRC was once more entirely reliable throughout the day, with the problems on P-G Andersson's car only arising as the result of his impact against a kerb on SS8. He then had to face the longest stage of the rally - the 30.38 kilometres of Panzerplatte - with just three-wheel drive and only his front brakes. Gardemeister enjoyed another faultless day and used the stages to increase his asphalt experience behind the wheel of the SX4 WRC. A number of suspension adjustments steadily improved the handling of the car throughout the day, and he finished every stage bar one in the top 10.
Driver news:
Toni Gardemeister: "It was actually a good day for us as we had no real problems at all despite the difficulty of the stages. Day two in Germany is one of the toughest days of the whole World Championship, so I'm very pleased to be here at the end. We were able to do top 10 times on nearly all of the stages without pushing too hard. It's been quite positive for us so far."
P-G Andersson: "I was just caught out by bad luck today: it was a tight right hairpin with a sharp tarmac edge inside. When I pulled the handbrake to get the car around the corner, the inside right wheel hit the tarmac and broke. First I thought we just had a puncture, but when I got to the stage finish we realised then what had happened. The rest of the rally is going to be all about testing for us now, which is important as we have two other asphalt rounds coming up this year."
Team news:
Paul Wilding, Suzuki World Rally Team manager: "Our drivers have had mixed fortunes today, but the most important thing is that we are close to the points with Toni and well on the way to getting both cars to the finish with good reliability. Considering that this is our first asphalt rally since Monte Carlo with this car, we've all been encouraged by the positive progress made so far."
-credit: suzukisport.com
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Rally Deutschland: BP-Ford leg one summary
Next article Rallye Deutschland SS16 results
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Toni Gardemeister
IRC: Peugeot pre Monte Carlo Rally news
Other rally
Other rally
IRC: Peugeot pre Monte Carlo Rally news
IRC: Peugeot Monte Carlo Rally preview
Other rally
Other rally
IRC: Peugeot Monte Carlo Rally preview
SWRC: M-Sport Rally Finland preview
WRC
WRC
SWRC: M-Sport Rally Finland preview
Latest news
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
5 h
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe