Toni Gardemeister

Toni Gardemeister

Gardemeister at the 2008 Rally of New Zealand.
Personal information
Nationality	Finnish
Born	31 March 1975 Kouvola, Finland
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1996–2010
Teams	SEAT, Mitsubishi, Škoda, Ford, Suzuki
Rallies	112
Championships	0
Rally wins	0
Podiums	6
Stage wins	16
Total points	128
First rally	1996 Rally Finland
Last rally	2010 Rally Finland

Toni Gardemeister (born 31 March 1975 in Kouvola, Finland), is a professional rally driver in the World Rally Championship. After previously competing for SEAT's, Mitsubishi's, Škoda's and Ford's factory teams, as well as for privateer teams, he joined the Suzuki World Rally Team for the 2008 season.

Career

Early

Gardemeister driving a Lancer Evo at the 2001 Rally Finland.

From the outset of his career Gardemeister had shown himself as a driver of some promise. He won the Finnish Rally Championship Group a (under 2000 cc) title in 1997 behind the wheel of a Nissan Sunny and was driving for the Spanish car firm SEAT for limited outings in 1998 with the Ibiza.

He was to become a world championship mainstay by the year 2000 in the firm's Córdoba WRC as team-mate to former world champion Didier Auriol. Gardemeister's impressive drives include a third place in New Zealand in 1999, and a fourth place on the 2000 Monte Carlo Rally.

With SEAT's surprise withdrawal from the 'works' scene for 2001 came two privateer opportunities in a Peugeot 206 WRC, in which Gardemeister scored drivers' points on both the Monte Carlo Rally and the Swedish Rally, finishing fifth and fourth, respectively.

Škoda (2002–04)

These performances attracted the attention of Škoda to whom Gardemeister then moved. He was to drive the Octavia WRC throughout 2002 and 2003, reuniting with Auriol, as well as the Fabia WRC in 2004. His best results with the Octavia were fifth places at the 2002 Rally Argentina and 2003 Rally New Zealand. With the Fabia WRC, he finished seventh at the 2004 Rallye Deutschland.

Ford (2005)

Gardemeister with a Ford Focus RS WRC 04 at the 2005 Cyprus Rally.

After securing a contract with the BP Ford World Rally Team, Ford's factory effort, for the 2005 season, Gardemeister drove his Ford Focus RS WRC 04 to a string of podiums and other points-scoring positions. A second place in Monte Carlo on his debut and a third in Sweden a month later were complemented by another second place, this time in the Acropolis Rally in the Spring of that year.

Finishing second once more on the Rallye de France in Corsica to the all-conquering Sébastien Loeb was thought to have aided Gardemeister's claim to retaining his drive with Ford for the 2006 season. However, with former Peugeot star Marcus Grönholm already signed to drive the 2006-specification factory Focus RS WRC, the news in November 2005 that Mikko Hirvonen had been signed to drive the second car in 2006 meant that Gardemeister would have to find a drive elsewhere. He finished the season a career-best fourth in the drivers' world championship, scoring twice as many points as his team-mate Roman Kresta.

2006–07

Gardemeister with a Citroën Xsara WRC at the 2006 Cyprus Rally.

Driving for the privateer Astra Racing team in a Peugeot 307 WRC with co-driver Jakke Honkanen, Gardemeister finished third in the 2006 Monte Carlo Rally, the first rally of the season. He went on to compete in three more world rallies driving a Citroën Xsara WRC, finishing fourth in Greece and Germany, and finishing fifth in Cyprus.

In the 2007 season, Gardemeister competed in five world rallies with a Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 and one with a Citroën Xsara WRC. With the Lancer WRC05, he finished seventh in Monte Carlo and then sixth in Sweden and Sardinia, and suffered two retirements. With the Xsara WRC, he took seventh place at the 2007 Rallye Deutschland.

Suzuki (2008)

Gardemeister with a Suzuki SX4 WRC at the 2008 Tour de Corse.

Gardemeister resurfaced to the WRC full-time the following year. His hard work with privateer teams had not gone unnoticed, as the new Suzuki World Rally Team offered him and new co-driver Tomi Tuominen one of the two works drives in the 2008 World Rally Championship season.^[1] Gardemeister quickly performed, finishing seventh in only their second rally, the 2008 Swedish Rally.

Along with an eighth place in Finland and another seventh in New Zealand, Gardemeister also achieved Suzuki's first WRC stage win in Japan and finished sixth overall behind his team-mate PG Andersson. This marked Suzuki's best points finish and points haul of the 2008 season, on the team's home event. After the event, Toni said: "This has been a very tough but a very good rally for us, which has confirmed what I always thought: when we have a nice clean run with no problems, we are able to fight for a good position. I was also really proud to set Suzuki's first fastest stage time on Saturday. Given that we have not even finished our first full year yet and that we have done no testing, it really shows our potential for the future." With Suzuki retiring from motorsport before season 2009, Gardemeister lost his drive.

2009-2010

For 2009, Gardemeister participated in only 2 rallies of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). The first being the Rallye Monte Carlo with an Astra Racing run Fiat Grande Punto Abarth S2000. He retired because of technical problems from 2nd place, 2 special stages before the finish. The second was the Rallye Principe de Asturias, with an Opel Corsa S2000 run by Motor Sport Developments. Gardemeister crashed on SS9 from 12th place.

Gardemeister driving a Ford Fiesta S2000 at the 2010 Rally Finland.

In 2010 he again participated at the IRC Rallye Monte Carlo with an Astra Racing run Fiat Grande Punto Abarth S2000. He surprisingly won the prologue but retired from 10th place on SS11. He also raced at WRC Rally Finland with a Ford Fiesta S2000, finishing 12th overall.

2011-present

In 2011, he entered the Rallye Monte Carlo with an Astra Racing-run Peugeot 207 S2000, and finished in 10th place. After that, he bought himself a Škoda Fabia S2000 and launched his own team, TGS Worldwide OU; his main sponsors were Mad Croc and Hankook. He missed only two rounds, the SATA Rally Azores and the Cyprus Rally; on all the others, he finished inside the top ten, his season best 6th place coming in Barum Rally Zlín. He sometimes complained that the works Škodas had a technical advantage over the marque's privateer drivers, because of certain updates they couldn't get.^[2] He finished the season 9th overall.

Gardemeister tried to put together the budget he needed to return to the IRC in 2012, but with Hankook leaving his team, his efforts were unsuccessful. He started to focus on renting out his Škoda, and entered some rally-raid events with various Mitsubishi cars, and achieved some good results. However, while competing on the Silk Way Rally, he suffered an accident which resulted in one twisted and two broken vertebraes. Gardemeister underwent a successful surgery to repair his back, and after a 9-month recovery, he is just as good as he was.

Results

WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1996	Toni Gardemeister	Opel Astra GSI 16V	SWE	KEN	IDN	GRC	ARG	FIN Ret	AUS	ITA	ESP								-	0
1997	Toni Gardemeister	Nissan Sunny GTI	MON	SWE Ret	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRC	NZL	FIN 12	IDN	ITA	AUS	GBR			-	0
1998	Promoracing Finland	Nissan Sunny GTI	MON	SWE 21	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRC									-	0
	SEAT Sport	SEAT Ibiza GTI 16V Evo 2									NZL 16	FIN 14	ITA Ret	AUS Ret	GBR 16
1999	Toni Gardemeister	SEAT Ibiza GTI 16V Evo 2	MON 14																12th	6
	Astra			SWE 33	KEN	POR Ret	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRC
	SEAT Sport	SEAT Córdoba WRC									NZL 3
		SEAT Córdoba WRC Evo2										FIN 6	CHN	ITA Ret	AUS 16	GBR Ret
2000	SEAT Sport	SEAT Córdoba WRC Evo2	MON 4	SWE Ret	KEN Ret	POR 9	ESP Ret	ARG Ret	GRC Ret	NZL Ret									13th	4
		SEAT Córdoba WRC Evo3									FIN Ret	CYP Ret	FRA 11	ITA Ret	AUS 6	GBR 12
2001	Toni Gardemeister	Peugeot 206 WRC	MON 5	SWE 4	POR	ESP	ARG	CYP	GRC	KEN									16th	5
	Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Carisma GT									FIN Ret	NZL 15	ITA	FRA	AUS	GBR
2002	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Octavia WRC Evo2	MON 10	SWE Ret	FRA 12	ESP 11	CYP 15	ARG 5	GRE 10	KEN Ret									13th	3
		Škoda Octavia WRC Evo3									FIN 12	GER Ret	ITA Ret	NZL 8	AUS 6	GBR 10
2003	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Octavia WRC Evo3	MON Ret	SWE 8	TUR 7	NZL 5	ARG 7	GRE Ret	CYP Ret										12th	9
		Škoda Fabia WRC								GER Ret	FIN Ret	AUS 11	ITA Ret	FRA 11	ESP 12	GBR Ret
2004	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia WRC	MON	SWE	MEX	NZL	CYP	GRE Ret	TUR	ARG	FIN 8	GER 7	JPN	GBR 22	ITA Ret	FRA 9	ESP 9	AUS	24th	3
2005	BP Ford World Rally Team	Ford Focus RS WRC 04	MON 2	SWE 3	MEX 6	NZL 6	ITA 5	CYP 5	TUR 6	GRE 2	ARG 4	FIN 6	GER 17	GBR DSQ	JPN 6	FRA 2	ESP 14		4th	58
		Ford Focus RS WRC 06																AUS Ret
2006	Astra Racing	Peugeot 307 WRC	MON 3	SWE	MEX	ESP	FRA	ARG	ITA										9th	20
		Citroën Xsara WRC								GRE 4	GER 4	FIN	JPN	CYP 5	TUR	AUS	NZL	GBR
2007	MMSP LTD	Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05	MON 7	SWE 6															13th	10
	Toni Gardemeister				NOR Ret	MEX	POR DSQ	ARG	ITA 6	GRE	FIN
	Astra Racing	Citroën Xsara WRC										GER 7	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	IRE	GBR
2008	Suzuki World Rally Team	Suzuki SX4 WRC	MON Ret	SWE 7	MEX Ret	ARG Ret	JOR Ret	ITA Ret	GRE 9	TUR Ret	FIN 8	GER 10	NZL 7	ESP 13	FRA 13	JPN 6	GBR 7		13th	10
2010	Toni Gardemeister	Ford Fiesta S2000	SWE	MEX	JOR	TUR	NZL	POR	BUL	FIN 12	GER	JPN	FRA	ESP	GBR				-	0

IRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	IRC	Points
2009	Astra Racing	Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000	MON Ret	CUR	SAF	AZO	YPR	RUS	MAD	ZLI	AST	ITA	SCO		-	0
2010	Astra Racing	Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000	MON Ret	CUR	ARG	CAN	SAR	YPR	AZO	MAD	ZLI	SAN	SCO	CYP	-	0
2011	Astra Racing	Peugeot 207 S2000	MON 10												9th	45
	TGS Worldwide OU	Škoda Fabia S2000		CAN 10	COR 8	YAL 7	YPR 7	AZO	ZLI 6	MEC 7	SAN 9	SCO 7	CYP

• * Season still in progress.

References

1. WRC: Official: Suzuki names drivers for '08., motorsport news, results, features, teams, drivers, updates
2. http://www.tonigardemeister.com/news110605.php

External links

• Official website
• Profile at WRC.com
• Statistics at WRC Archive