Suzuki team grabs seven points at Rally New Zealand

The final day of Rally New Zealand took crews to some of the most photographed and talked about stages on the whole World Rally Championship calendar. The Te Hutewai and Whaanga Coast stages go as far west of the rally base in Hamilton as possible - they run along the headland of the Tasman Sea.

Both Suzuki drivers Toni Gardemeister and P-G Andersson were looking forward to the stages, which are as much a treat for the drivers as they are for the spectators. And they turned out to be a fitting setting for Suzuki's best World Rally Championship finish yet, with Andersson climbing the leaderboard through the final day to sixth and his team-mate Gardemeister finishing just one place further back in seventh place. It was no wonder the drivers received such a rapturous welcome back into Hamilton from the local Kiwi fans and everybody in the Suzuki World Rally Team. A trouble-free run to seven points on one of the toughest rallies in the world was the perfect result for everybody.

Paul Wilding, Suzuki World Rally Team manager: "As you can imagine, I'm pretty delighted with the way things have gone. This is a great payback for all the incredible hard work everybody in the team has put in. We have all worked tirelessly towards seeing the Suzuki SX4 WRC show this kind of reliability and pace. There's more to come, but for now we're all just going to enjoy this result. Fantastic!"