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Last month, the Suzuki SX4 WRC underwent tarmac testing in Europe, and the consensus is that things are progressing well, but there's room for improvement,. And to be competitive, more improvement is needed. The car's current configuration is said to be very close to what the team will use in the WRC test entries it's scheduled for -- the Rallye de France in October and Rally GB in November.

Suzuki Sport's president, Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima (yes, him), said that while the results the group has seen are encouraging, he knows that the European WRC teams are evolving and improving just as quickly, and he and the rest of the team at Suzuki Sport are working very hard to ensure that the SX4 WRC will be a competitive entry when takes part in this season's upcoming test rallies, and more importantly, next year's World Rally Championship season. We hope this WRC effort will ultimately spawn a snazzy, turbocharged SX4 street car to do battle with the WRX in the marketplace. Because, you know, we're selfish like that.

Press release after the jump.

[Source: Suzuki]