Toni Gardemeister has finished in the points for Suzuki on the Swedish Rally, claiming seventh position and the team's best result to date.

He scores two driver points and three manufacturer points. Following P-G Andersson's result in Monte Carlo two weeks ago, it means the Suzuki SX4 WRC has taken points on both rallies held so far, and in only its second outing, has once again showed itself capable of setting top-six times.

P-G Andersson was forced to retire on the opening day of the rally with a head gasket problem, having climbed to seventh overall, but Gardemeister had a reliable run to the finish despite some hydraulic issues and an off-road excursion on Saturday.

That led to a three minute delay when some spectators accidentally pushed him further into the ditch rather than helping him out.

Crews had to battle with a distinct lack of snow on the stages compared to previous years, and with comparatively warm temperatures, there was plenty of loose gravel that ripped the studs out of Pirelli's control tyres and reduced the amount of grip available.

Toni Gardemeister: 'I'm very happy to have scored my first points for Suzuki after a tough three days. The biggest problem we had were the conditions. There was a lot of loose gravel, and so we had to soften the suspension a lot on the opening day.

"Then we had a problem with the hydraulics on the second day, and also we went off the road. That was a really stupid thing, as it should have cost us just 10 or 15 seconds although of course we are always grateful for any help in these situations.

There's lots of development still to do but I'm basically very happy with the pace of the car considering the fact that we did comparatively little testing. By the end of the year, I'm sure we will be a lot closer to the frontrunners.'

Nobuhiro Tajima, Suzuki World Rally Team principal:

'I am very happy. Toni and Tomi have brought us our best result to date in our short world rally career so far, and we have also finished in the points again for the second time in two rallies!

Of course, I am very sorry for P-G and Jonas who also deserved to finish in the points, just as they did in Monte Carlo.

This rally could not have been much more difficult for us, as all our limited preparation was based on snow.

"Even without it, we have managed to bring home another result. Congratulations to everybody. Now we are already working hard for Mexico.'