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.
11-579: 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,
22-572: A Peugeot 206 WRC , ahead of Petter Solberg and Carlos Sainz . The manufacturers' title was won by Peugeot , ahead of Ford and Subaru . The 2002 championship was contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, Africa, South America and Oceania. Rallye de Portugal was dropped from the calendar after a disastrous running of the event in 2001 due to heavy rain which was heavily criticized by drivers such as Marcus Grönholm , Colin McRae and Richard Burns . It
33-474: 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 . 2002 World Rally Championship season The 2002 World Rally Championship was the 30th season of the FIA World Rally Championship . The season consisted of 14 rallies. Marcus Grönholm won his second drivers' world championship in
44-535: 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
55-589: The World Rally Championship full-time, employing such drivers as Sébastien Loeb , he was frequently entered as Citroën's 3rd driver for tarmac rallies. His top performances were on home soil on the Tour de Corse , but he also showed potential in the Rallye Sanremo , Monte Carlo Rally , and Rallye Catalunya . In 1999, he won 2 races overall with formula 2 cars. After his breakthrough, he struggled to secure
66-649: 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
77-770: 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. Testing of the Suzuki SX4 WRC car was conducted in Japan in February 2007, before relocating to Europe in March. Gravel testing
88-706: The World Rally Championship but neither materialized for the 2002 season. Japan would create Rally Hokkaido for the 2002 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship which would join the WRC as Rally Japan in 2004 while India would likewise create Rally India in Mumbai for the 2003 APRC season although this would fail to join the WRC. The highest finishing competitor entered in each WRC class is listed below. Non-championship entries may have finished ahead of WRC competitors in individual rounds. Philippe Bugalski Philippe Bugalski (12 June 1963 Cusset – 10 August 2012)
99-610: Was a French rally driver. Bugalski became a works Renault driver in the French Rally Championship in 1994. In 1998, he joined the works Citroën team, with whom he won the French national title three years in a row, from 1998 to 2000. By the mid 1990s he had become a regular choice as tarmac specialist for Citroën, along with team mate Jesús Puras . However, as the Citroën Total World Rally Team entered
110-535: Was replaced by Rallye Deutschland which had an impressive candidate Rally in 2001 won by Philippe Bugalski after main rival Marcus Gronholm received a puncture and spun multiple times. The Tour de Corse was moved to be earlier in the season while Rally New Zealand was moved later to be back to back with Rally Australia while the Cyprus Rally and Rally Argentina swapped places. FIA President Max Mosley had stated that Japan and India had been two candidates to join
121-827: 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. Drivers for the 2008 season were announced Monday, December 17, to be Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson . 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
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