Gardemeister aims for points

After a difficult start to the season, Suzuki drivers Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson are upbeat about the return to Europe on the forthcoming Rally d’Italia Sardinia.

Neither of the two SX4 WRC drivers completed all of the stages on the last rally in Jordan, but the team has been working hard since the Middle East event to iron out the issues which halted Gardemeister’s Suzuki in the desert.

Gardemeister said: “The key to success for us will be achieving a good level of reliability. If we can stay out of trouble, then I have absolutely no doubt that we can score points; even quite good points. That has to be the aim here.”

For the first time this season, Andersson will have more experience of an event than his team-mate. Andersson, a two-time Junior champion, has tackled every world championship event in Sardinia since the series arrived on the island in 2004.

Andersson said: “I like this rally a lot, although you have to be very careful not to pick up punctures - especially during the second run through the stages. The main thing I think is to be very neat and precise, which I try to be all the time. I’m feeling reasonably optimistic: we found out quite a few important things in Jordan which could hopefully make a difference for us in Sardinia. We’ll certainly have a bit of an attack - that’s why we’re here after all!”