Suzuki driver Urmo Aava had a successful run through the second day's stages on the Rally Japan, round 13 of this year's World Rally Championship. Despite some tough conditions that claimed even top stars such as Sebastien Loeb and Marcus Gronholm, Aava and his Suzuki Swift Super 1600 had no major problems today. The Estonian enjoyed his first experience of the Japanese stages, while his Suzuki demonstrated the same reliability that has earned it first and second places in this year's Junior Rally Championship.

Having started leg two of the event in 23rd place, Urmo finishes it in 16th position: just 11.9 seconds off the top 15 and in front of several more powerful four-wheel drive cars. As Rally Japan is not a round of this year's Junior Championship, Urmo and his co-driver Kuldar Sikk began the event with a low start position. This meant that they had to put up with rough roads and big rocks thrown up by the four-wheel drive cars ahead of them: many of which benefit from anti-deflation mousse in their tyres.
The junior cars do not have from that luxury, so Urmo always had to take care to avoid many of the rocks that were hidden in the mud. Nonetheless, he still managed to set some extremely competitive stage times that saw the diminutive Suzuki holding its own against much bigger cars. The high-revving Suzuki Swift Super 1600 was a real crowd-pleaser, making Urmo and Suzuki one of the highlights of the field for the enthusiastic spectators.