New Suzuki for Gardemeister in Turkey

Suzuki World Rally Team driver Toni Gardemeister will start Rally Turkey with a brand new SX4 World Rally Car after the one he was supposed to use was found to have a damaged roll cage.

According to the FIA’s WRC event pairing regulations, a single car must be used for this year’s Greek and Turkish rounds and time penalties can be applied if competitors break the rules.

The Suzuki team said they were unable to reuse Gardemeister’s car for safety reasons after a post rally inspection revealed a damaged section of roll cage in the right-hand front wheel arch.

A brand new SX4 WRC was built at the team’s headquarters in Paris and arrived in Turkey on Tuesday night.

The Stewards of Rally Turkey met this afternoon and decided in the circumstances not to impose a time penalty on Gardemeister for swapping cars.