Rally Ireland: First victory opens up JWRC season 2009

Aaron Burkart celebrated a perfect start of the JWRC 2009 during the Rally Ireland. Despite most difficult weather conditions, the 26-year-old in his Suzuki Swift 1600 clearly asserted himself against the international competition after three suspenseful days.
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February, 1st will - from now on - always have a special meaning for Aaron Burkart. For the first time, the German rally driver wins a Junior World Rally Championship round and is totally overwhelmed: "This rally was just tough and I came first. The first JWRC Rally 2009, the first round in the Swift, the first time in a new race design and my first JWRC victory", reported Burkart, who admits right afterwards that he has not yet realized his achievements: "At the moment, I feel somehow different, exhausted, a little shaky and happy. Yes, most of all happy and my eyes are irritated since Micha was very accurate about the shower with sparkling wine and hit me completely", he adds.

But he definitely deserved this shower. Burkart was driving steadily with the needed portion of caution on these difficult Irish stages. "You could not force anything. The streets were too tight and the conditions unpredictable. It was very important to know what to expect from your car. I had a good feeling in the Swift and was driving in a controlled way because we had seen too many accidents happen during this weekend, even the smallest mistake could have led to the driver's downfall. And we were always among the top drivers, so we did not want to risk our good position. In the end - as the results display - it turned out to be the best strategy", Burkart explains happily.

After he took over the lead on Friday morning due to 2 fastest times, there were exciting battles with the Dutch Hans Weijs Jr. on Friday afternoon and Saturday. Weijs Jr. was achieving fast times in Burkart's car from last year and had meanwhile taken over the lead. On Saturday morning, Burkart managed to come first again and Hans Weijs' accident ended the battle in special stage 14. Burkart did not let got of the lead in the JWRC division again until the finish line. "Of course, we had some ticklish situations, too. This necessarily happens if you do not drive too slowly in the special stages but they always had a happy ending. Right on the first day, we were sliding off the street due to aquaplaning and lost nearly half a minute. Fortunately, the audience helped us and we were able to continue. This surely was the most challenging rally I have taken part in. So I am even happier about this wonderful result", Burkart sums up.

Suzuki Sport Europe Team Manager, Yasuhiro Ishii commented,
"Aaron did perfect work under such a difficult condition, but I must say it was not surprising result for me at all. Because, it has not been so many days working with Aaron but it was enough to know his speed and stability. Having said that, I did not expect he could make such a big gap from the second. For the next round, I suppose the time gap will be much closer between top drivers. Even 1 second loss would be crucial so we will keep develop our Swift S1600 for Aaron".