Suzuki Pulls Outs Of World Rally Championship

The economic recession has continued to have an impact on motorsport after Suzuki announced its withdrawal from the World Rally Championship after only one season.

The Japanese manufacturer started racing in the junior WRC in 2002 and moved to the senior field in 2007.

However, in a statement Suzuki said they had ‘decided to focus on the core business functions’.

The withdrawal follows Honda’s decision earlier this month not to race in F1 next season, the firm also blaming the world’s economic crisis for its decision and have set a January deadline to find a buyer or the team will close.

‘In responding to the contraction of the automotive sales caused by recent global economic turmoil, Suzuki has been promptly taking possible countermeasures, including the reassessment of its global production output,’ read Suzuki’s statement.

‘To secure its own business environment for tomorrow, the organisation reviews every aspect of the operations and decided to focus on the core business functions such as the manufacturing system, environment technologies and development of new-generation powertrains. As a result, Suzuki concluded to suspend the WRC activities from 2009.’

Suzuki finished fifth in their debut season as drivers Per-Gunnar Andersson and Toni Gardemeister helped the team accumulate a total of 34 points.