|
|
|
News from WRC These WRC videos may
take a while to load so please be patient
2008 Driver Standings
2008 Manufacturer Standings
2008 WRC Calendar
1 May 2008 According to sources, Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson have been testing the new hatchback Impreza World Rally Car in Sardinia last week. Solberg tested last Wednesday and Thursday and Atkinson flew in to test drive on Friday and Saturday. No one was saying much except to confirm that test driving had taken place and that there had been no decision on when the new rally car will make it's debut in the WRC.
1 May 2008 Petter Solberg has become the first ambassador for a global peace programme founded by HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein of the Jordanian Royal family. ‘Peace Through Sport’ is a global initiative inspired and developed by Prince Feisal to encourage greater tolerance and understanding within conflicting communities. Launched last year, Peace Through Sport operates programmes that bring together youth leaders from the world’s divided communities and train them to use sport to unite children in their regions.
30 March 2008 4th Round WRC Rally Sebastien Loeb was
relieved to finish the last day of the 4th WRC rally to
notch up the 39th win of his career. He said, “I
like difficult conditions but I thought today’s were the
hardest I’ve ever faced". PRESS RELEASE: 4 January 2008 Martin signs as test driver for the Subaru World Rally Team Markko Martin has signed as the official test driver for the Subaru World Rally Team, as the team steps up its testing programme in preparation for the launch of its all-new Impreza World Rally Car. The 32 year old Estonian, who won the Bettega Memorial Rally at the end of last year driving an SWRT entered Subaru Impreza WRC2007, has an agreement that will see him responsible for the ongoing testing and development of Subaru new WRC contender throughout 2008.
WRC & Subaru HistoryThe deep blue and bright yellow Pleiades stars of the Subaru brand is one of the best known in the rally world. Way back in 1990 with the Subaru Legacy and later in 1993 with the Impreza the Subaru name was became synonymous with rallying with Colin McCrae and Carlos Sainz becoming more and more successful with a triumph for Colin and Subaru taking the world title in 1995. With a second place in 1996 and under the new World Rally Car rules and using the new Subaru Impreza WRC and drivers McCrae, Piero Liatti and Kenneth Eriksson, Subaru took the 1997 manufacturer's title. 1998 once again saw McCrae take the driver's championship but in 1999 he decided to switch teams to Ford. Richard Burns & Juha Kankkunen signed for Subaru and Burns finished second in the 1999 drivers league. With a poor showing in 2000 Burns came to the top again in 2001 winning the driver's title but decided to move to Peugeot so Petter Solberg took over as top driver and Tommi Makinen provided back up for the 2002 season. With four wins and the drivers title for Subaru in 2003 it was Citroen that took the manufacturer's title and the following year Sebastien Loeb for the French once again proved too much for Solberg. In 2005 it was Chris Atkinson that was providing back up for Solberg taking over from the retired Makinen and a third place in Japan showed that he was a good choice but the Subaru team were beaten once again by the French Citroen team.
With the
aging impreza and further disappointments in 2006
and 2007 the Subaru team are hopefully optimistic about
the 2008 season with a new car based on the new
hatchback Impreza building a new WRC version which it is
hoped will make it's debut early in the 2008 season.
The hopes of Solberg, Atkinson and Subaru are pinned on
this and we wish them good luck. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
