Paris, France is the home of the brand new Suzuki World Rally Team since the 2006 season. Known as the 'Monster', Nobuhiro Tajima handles the reins of the team in his role as team principal. The team runs the SX4WRC with the experience of Toni Gardemeister in the driver's seat along with one of the quickest rising stars of the sport, two-time Junior Champion, Per-Gunnar Andersson. Touted to be a strong contender, the team is expected to cause some major upsets although title aspirations are still a fair way away.
Suzuki has been generally associated with the two-wheeled version of racing rather than four. The company has made some changes to this image and has made considerable investments in reaching, and staying at, the top class of the World Rally Championships. Rallying is not new to Suzuki though, as in 1986, it set up a separate division called 'Suzuki Racing' that was created through a partnership with Monster International, a motor sport preparation company. This division enabled Suzuki to participate in numerous series of racing including the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championships as well as the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima, the president of Suzuki, was also the lead driver for manufacturer and even today, he takes a 'hands-on' approach to his work. In 2007, He drove a 1000 bhp Suzuki Sport XL7 Hill Climb Special to the top of Pikes Peak with a record breaking time of 10 minutes, 1.4 seconds. He plans to beat the 10 minute mark in 2008.

2002 saw Suzuki take part, for the first time, in the FIA Junior World Championships. They used a 1600cc version of the Suzuki Ignis. The following year, the team fielded four cars in the contest but it wasn't till 2004 that the team managed to get their hands of the title. P-G Andersson brought home the FIA Junior World Rally Championships through a steller performance. Suzuki came into the World Rally Championships in 2005 by contesting in all the 16 rounds. This was mainly to gain considerable experience of the stages of the WRC calendar. The team replaced the Ignis with the brand new Swift S1600 in Rally Finland. British Driver Guy Wilks finished as runner-up in the Championships in 2005.

In February 2006, Suzuki made it official. They would step up to the Senior Level in the World Rally Championships with their new mean machine, the Suzuki SX4 WRC. The team chose Paris as their home base to begin work on their new car. 2006 also saw P-G Andersson finish in third and Guy Wilks come in at fourth in their Suzuki Swift S1600.

Things began to get busy for the Japanese outfit in 2007. Testing and development work was at full-swing as the World Rally Championship project was becoming intense. Their Junior World Rally Championship season was wonderful with P-G bringing the title home for the second time. The team's second driver , Urmo Aava, finished at second place in the overall standings after both drives used an almost identical Suzuki Swift S1600.

Suzuki also took part in two WRC rounds in 2007. They used these rounds to test their new World Rally Car, the rally version of the street-based SX4. The car was first visible on the asphalt covered roads of Corsica. Nicolas Bernardi, at the wheel, could only manage the 31st spot but then, the team never meant to compete to win - merely testing their vehicle. Seven weeks later, the team targeted the Wales Rally GB, a Gravel-based circuit, with Sebastien Lindholm in the hot seat. The team finished 27th in another fruitful race-testing environment. The team announced a formal participation in the 2008 season with their new SX4 WRC with driver Toni Gardemeister and P-G Andersson. Gardemeister will have Tomi Tuominen as his navigational aide whereas P-G will have his regular co-driver, Jonas Andersson, by his side.

Gardemeister brings enormous experience to the line-up with his endeavours as a 'works driver' with Ford and Skoda. Andersson needs no introduction with his two Junior WRC title wins in 2004 and 2007 with Suzuki. Things are looking bright at the Paris home for the Japanese team and only time will tell whether 2008 will see the team live up to it's reputation of being a 'possible Giant Killer' or just be another season full of lessons for future growth.