Mixed 2016 plan for Abbring
Dutchman set for World Rally Car and R5 drives
Suninen targets WRC 2 return
Finnish rising star Teemu Suninen hopes to tackle a full WRC 2 season in 2016 after a part program this year ended with victory on the final round in Wales.
The 21-year-old contested a mixed bag of WRC events this season. His place in Toyota Motorsport GmbH's Junior Driver Development Programme gave him two outings in a Citroën DS3 Max and four in a Ford Fiesta R5 run by Oreca.
He boosted this with two further rounds in a Škoda Fabia S2000 run by former works team driver Toni Gardemeister.
After successes including wins in WRC 3 in Sardinia and WRC 2 in Wales, Suninen is eager to continue his development in 2016.
"We learned a lot this year, especially how hard we have to work to win rallies," he told wrc.com.
"This season has opened my eyes. Now I know what I have to do, and how to practise to get better results. I have found the transition to four-wheel drive quite straightforward but of course I still have lots of work to do because it is really different from front-wheel drive."
Next year Suninen hopes to continue his development role with TMG, as well as his links with Gardemeister's TGS squad, which has recently purchased an R5 spec Fabia.
"The TMG agreement runs year after year and if all goes well I hope we can continue into next year. The cooperation has been good. Nice for both sides I think.
"We planned to do six rallies this year with TMG and soon after we were able to add in the extra events with Toni's team. He's one of my coaches and I can learn a lot from him,” he added.
