Suzuki is fighting for an A6 class victory in Turkey at the moment, but it is aiming to win its first JWRC event with the eagerly-anticipated new Swift Super 1600, targeting a second successive victory in the Junior World Rally Championship.

The Suzuki Swift is getting ready for JWRC

Testing has already shown that the car is fast enough to run at the front, setting times which are comparable to the leading pace in the Junior World Rally Championship.
However Suzuki wishes to achieve complete reliability that will enable the car to win its first event. The Swift's debut is provisionally scheduled for the all-gravel Neste Rally Finland, round five of the Junior World Rally Championship held from 5-7 August. However this is subject to final approval from Suzuki's engineers, and also homologation (type approval) from the FIA, world rallying's governing body, in July.

Reigning Junior World Rally Champion P-G Andersson from Sweden and his British team mate Guy Wilks will drive the new car from its debut to the end of the 2005 season. The Swift Super 1600 will undergo more testing during June and July, following which a decision will be taken whether or not to homologate it in time for Finland. Suzuki will therefore not be taking part in July's Rally Argentina, in order to maximise the time available to test and develop the new car.

Team manager Risto Laine commented: "We feel no special urgency to run the new car, as we still have complete confidence in the current Ignis to win in Finland and on the remaining events of the year. But we are all very excited to have the Swift waiting in the wings, so it's no surprise that we would like to run it as soon as possible! So far the Swift has already proved that it has the speed to win: now we need to make it entirely reliable. Missing Argentina is a sensible decision that will give us more time to do that."

The new Swift is Suzuki's first 'world car', designed and engineered specifically for global tastes. Suzuki is planning to produce 250,000 units in Japan, China, India, and Hungary. The Swift Super 1600 rally challenger is backed by Shell and Sanyo. Shell Helix is the preferred motor oil lubricant for Suzuki cars.