Bertolotti first time 2nd place in Spain

The Rally RACC Rally de Espana, the final event of the JWRC for 2009 took place from 1st to 4th of October, the event was again based in the Salou region. Attended by just two Suzuki drivers, Aaron Burkart and Simone Bertolotti supported by Suzuki Sport Europe.

Usual Suzuki driver; Michal Kosciuszko was absent since all of his nominated events were completed at the Rally of Finland. Citroen driver; Martin Prokop arrived to Spain as the newly crowned 2009 JWRC champion, a title he secured at Rally Finland. Burkart needed to finish in at least 2nd place in order to finish the 2009 JWRC season in 2nd position since his team mate Michal Kosciuszko was currently standing in the runners up spot.

 

 

Day1, began with blue sky and the temperature soon rose once the sun came up. After a solid result for Burkart winning the first tarmac event of the 2009 season in Ireland, hopes were high for another good result in Spain he pushed himself from the beginning. Unluckily, during SS1, he was caught by in a wet trail which resulted in him spinning off the road. Fortunately he was able to return to service. Bertolotti was driving with good rhythm on his favourite surface; tarmac. Dutch Citroen driver, Hans Weijs and Czech driver Martin Prokop pushed hard from the beginning. As a "Wild card", local guest driver Jordi Marti followed them in a Renailt Clio. At the end of the day, Burkart was 9 seconds behind of Marti and Bertolotti followed a further 44.4 seconds behind.

Day 2, Bertolotti kept driving safely and managed to reach 3rd position by SS10. Burkart was forced to preserve his car because his spin on Day 1 had seemingly caused more damage than earlier thought, unfortunately, on SS8 he was forced to stop because of broken suspension. On stage SS11, 2009 JWRC champion Prokop crashed and retired from the event.

The day 3 stages had varying character and were very demanding for the drivers. Bertolotti was successfull reducing the gap to Marti. Finally, he caught Marti on SS17 and finished in 2nd place for the first time in his career. Burkart restarted under the superrally system with all signs of previous damage repaired by the team. He soon got back to his normal driving and set the fastest stage times on SS13, SS16 and SS17. Weijs kept pushing his Citroen, had a trouble free run and eventually and won the event.

 

Comment from Aaron Burkart, Car No.31:
"We lost the chance to fight for 2nd place because I was pushing too much hard at the beginning. I had a scary spin and luckily we did not destroy the car so we were able to bring the car back to service. I think that the high speed spin caused the damage which forced us to stop on the second day. I think it was a good season with Suzuki and I have been happy to be a 'Suzuki boy'."

Comment from Simone Bertolotti, Car No.33:
“I am very very happy because started in a good way and finished that way also. We finished this event higher than I had thought possible so I am very happy. We have been on the podium twice on both tarmac events which is my favourite. On the other hand, we had to learn many things on gravel which I am not so familiar with. Next year, we have to be more closer to the top guys.”

Comment from Michal Kosciuszko, Car No.32:
"I would like to give my compliments to Simone for his first time in 2nd place. I know he has made huge effort this year so I am really happy to hear of his result in Spain. I am sorry for Aaron, it was a really unlucky that he had a spin. I am pleased to have had such a nice team mates this year with Suzuki. I would also like to thank my team."

Comments from Yasuhiro Ishii (Team Manager of SUZUKI SPORT EUROPE)
"Looking back over the 2009 JWRC season, it has been challenging year for all of the Suzuki drivers. With 3 young and talented drivers we feel that we have made big improvements. With Suzuki driver Michal Kosciuszko finishing the season in 2nd place, Aaron Burkart in 3rd and Simone Bertolotti on 6th place.

It has been a real shame that we were not able to secure the JWRC champion title a 3rd time for Suzuki in 2009. Michal and Aaron who both are just as talented as Prokop drove well but made some mistakes on the way. Having said that, they are still young and they have showed us a huge improvement so I am expecting to see greater successes from them next year. For Simone, 2009 was a learning year with the gravel events being especially tough. I am very pleased that he was able to secure his first 2nd place finish on the final event of the season. His talent and sensibility is genuine so I am looking forword to seeing a greater improvement from him next year."