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Cardiff, 11 November 2002 Preview Rally Great Britain 15-16-17 November 2002 SUZUKI TEAMS REVVED UP FOR RALLY GREAT BRITAIN The three privateer Suzuki teams have high hopes for the forthcoming Rally Great Britain, which gets underway on Thursday night (14 November). The sixth and final round of the Junior World Championship is run through the dank and muddy forests of Wales, testing the Super 1600 field's two-wheel drive traction to the limit. At the end of the rally the Junior World Champion will be known, as at this moment only 1 points separates Dani‘l Sola from the Italian Dallavilla, both on Citro‘n Saxo. The battle for first will be very hard and exciting. Three Ignis teams, from Finland, Japan and Germany will start the event as usual, and all of them are also hoping for a great result. The last time the three Suzukis saw some action was over the sunny asphalt of Sanremo. The wet and foggy conditions of Britain could not present a more different challenge. But the teams are upbeat as the Suzuki Ignis has always been strong and gravel - and recent testing has enhanced the loose-surface performance even further. Suzuki Team Finland's Juha Kangas has experience of the Rally Great Britain before, and the young Finnish gravel expert is looking to put that knowledge to good use this weekend. "I like the British forests because they are not hugely different to the gravel roads in Finland," he said. "The Ignis has demonstrated a lot of potential on gravel already this year, so hopefully we can build on this progress and finish off the season on a high. I am very confident and aiming for a result in the points" Like Finland, Britain is a rally often dominated by local specialists. Suzuki Team Germany's Niki Schelle will be climbing a learning curve, but he is determined to make the most of this final opportunity to score points. "The surfaces in Britain are bound to be very slippery, so it will be easy to make a mistake," said the German, co-driven again by his compatriot Tanja Geilhausen. "But I want to go as fast as possible, and our gravel development test has highlighted a few areas where we can improve the car." Gaining experience is the name of the game for Kazuhiko Niwa, Suzuki Team Japan's driver. The young Japanese has never rallied in Britain before, so every day will be a new adventure. "The roads seem very fast and very tricky," said Niwa, who is being co-driven for the first time in the JWRC by his compatriot Akihiko Takahashi. "I just want to finish the rally, and take as much knowledge of the event as I can into the future," says Niwa. The three Suzukis have competed on every round of the JWRC this year, but Kangas has competed on an extra gravel event - the Rally Finland in August. The lessons learned from that rally (the last time an Ignis appeared on gravel) should benefit all three cars in Britain. Suzuki has learned a lot about how the car should be set up for gravel, and it has shared this information with all the Suzuki teams. That gives them a little bit more confidence heading into the very difficult Rally Great Britain. The Rally Great Britain starts on Thursday 14 November with the Spectator Superspecial in Cardiff docks at 1930. The cars then complete 16 more stages before the finish back in Cardiff on Sunday afternoon. This last rally of the season has a total of 1640 km.

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