The Suzuki Ignis of Kosti Katajamaki has finished second on the Monte Carlo Rally, round one of the Junior World Rally Championship. Another Ignis of Alan Scorcioni has ended third, while the similar cars of P-G Andersson and Guy Wilks are sixth and seventh.

Kosti Katajamaki who narrowly missed out on first place

The final day of the all-asphalt event was one of the toughest, including two runs over the famous Col de Turini. Once more the stage claimed many high-profile victims, punishing even the most experienced drivers. Stray patches of ice and snow meant that grip levels were constantly changing - providing a particularly tricky challenge for the two-wheel drive Junior World Championship runners

The Suzuki Sport Europe-run Ignis of Kosti Katajamaki was entirely reliable over all three days of the rally, although he felt that he suffered from a slight power loss towards the end of the rally. Kosti chose tyres that were too soft for the opening stage this morning but his biggest moment came on the first run over the icy Col de Turini, when he became one of many to slide wide and hit a wall. Although he had started the day in the lead, Kosti correctly decided that it was more important to secure a safe podium finish, and he drove carefully to the end in order to successfully kick-start his 2005 title campaign.

The Finn, backed by two-time World Champion Marcus Gronholm, said: "The conditions on Turini today were very difficult. We were running slick tyres, but there was a lot of snow and ice around which made sections of the road extremely tricky to drive. We had a very big moment when we spun and went into a wall on a fast downhill section, and from then on we backed off to make sure of reaching the finish. It's been a tough rally and a good start to the year."

Alan Scorcioni, driving his first rally in an Ignis run by Czech team JM Engineering, has ended the rally in a career-best third place, after an excellent drive over all three days. He too enjoyed a hundred percent reliability, although the Italian questioned some of his tyre choices in the early stages of the rally. He had no problems at all today, and drove quickly yet reliably to the finish.

He said: "This has been a dream start to my Suzuki career. The car has been more fantastic than I can describe and I never believed that I could start off with a result like this on such a famous rally. The only problems we have had were a few incorrect tyre choices: apart from that I am delighted with the car and our performance."

Monster Sport Europe driver P-G Andersson finished sixth after an eventful rally in his Ignis. The Swede was leading from the start until the last stage on Saturday, when he crashed into a wall after sliding off on some loose gravel. Under the new re-entry rules he was able to re-join the rally today with a five-minute penalty and recovered to finish an excellent sixth overall. This was despite an off on SS12 today, when P-G smashed into a telegraph pole after finding himself with no brakes.

"It's certainly been an exciting event!" said the reigning Junior World Rally Champion. "Under the circumstances, to finish sixth overall is like a victory. Everything was going brilliantly until our accident on the final stage of Saturday, but I'd like to thank our mechanics for doing such a fantastic job to get us back into the rally. Everything we have achieved here is thanks to then."

It was a similar story for P-G's Monster Sport Europe team mate Guy Wilks. The Englishman was fourth after suffering from brake problems, but he too went off on Saturday's final stage after sliding on ice and hitting a bridge. The Suzuki mechanics did another brilliant job to fix his car and allow it to re-start the final leg, where Guy drove consistently to ensure a points finish in seventh.

Guy commented: "These are probably the hardest two points I have ever scored in my life! What happened to me on Saturday was extremely unfortunate but at least we haven't come away from this rally entirely empty-handed. The last day was quite difficult as it's not as easy to stay motivated when you are not fighting for a top position, but it could have been far worse."

Czech Pavel Valuosek finished eighth in his JM-Engineering run Ignis, after a trouble-free rally that was interrupted by a puncture on the second day. "It's been a good rally for us and we were even lucky with the puncture as it happened right at the end of a stage," he said. "The Ignis is an excellent car, and I've learnt a lot for the future."

Young Czech Martin Prokop, run by the Jipocar team, finished ninth in another Ignis.

Suzuki Sport principal Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima commented: "Congratulations to Kosti and Alan who did a fantastic job to start the year off in style. But some of the biggest heroes of this rally are the Monster Sport Europe mechanics who did an amazing job under a lot of pressure to put P-G and Guy back in the rally."

The next round of the Junior World Rally Championship takes place in Mexico, from March 10-13, but the Monster Sport Europe Suzukis of P-G and Guy will be back in action for the Swedish Rally from 10-13 February.

Junior World Rally Championship classification at end of leg three, Monte Carlo Rally:

1 Kris Meeke (Citroen C2) 4h35m55.6s
2 Kosti Katajamaki (Suzuki Ignis) +14.5s
3 Alan Scorcioni (Suzuki Ignis) +1m40.3s
4 Daniel Sordo (Citroen C2) +2m26.5s
5 Luca Betti (Renault Clio) +3m23.6s
6 P-G Andersson (Suzuki Ignis) +4m00.2s
7 Guy Wilks (Suzuki Ignis) +4m51.3s
8 Pavel Valousek (Suzuki Ignis) +5m14.8s
9 Martin Prokop (Suzuki Ignis) +9m58.4s

Championship points after round one

1.Meeke 10
2. Katajamaki 8
3. Scorcioni 6
4. Sordo 5
5. Betti 4
6. Andersson 3
7. Wilks 2
8. Valousek 1