Zoom The aim is reliability, good points the reward

The Suzuki World Rally Team will be competing on the island of Sardinia this week-end, and for once, young Swede P-G Andersson actually has more experience of this event than his illustrious teammate.

Whereas Andersson has competed on every Rally d'Italia-Sardegna since it joined the World Championship in 2004, Toni Gardemeister did not contest the 2006 event.

Gardemeister also made a bit of rally history by finishing fifth on the rally in 2005. A technical problem had forced him to retire on a previous leg, but he came back under what was then the brand-new super rally system and became the first driver ever to score World Championship points after 'retiring' from an event.

This year, he is naturally hoping for a clean run to the finish - and no retirements - despite the challenging nature of the Sardinian stages.

"It's a tricky rally as it is very inconsistent: the grip and the surfaces are changing all the time," said the 32 year-old. "On the whole, the surfaces are quite slippery and soft on the top, with a harder base underneath. It's also quite dusty, so the circumstances are far from easy."

"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," Gardemeister underlined. "That has to be the aim here."

P-G Andersson, a former winner of the Junior World Championship class in Sardinia, has always maintained a good feeling with this event.

"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," he commented. "The main thing I think is to be very neat and precise, which I try to be all the time anyway."

"I'm feeling reasonably optimistic," Andersson added. "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!"

D.B. © CAPSIS International