End of an Era: Subaru Leaving WRC
After almost 20 years of participation in the WRC, Subaru has announced the immediate closure of it’s World Rally Team. Subaru, in association with the English company Prodrive, has won three overall WRC constructor’s championships, three driver’s championships (with Colin McRae, Richard Burns, and Petter Solberg), and 47 total rally wins. The official justification for pulling out of the sport is the recent worldwide economic downturn, although additional reasons could be found in the new S2000 regulations (which would mandate a new car smaller than the Impreza and a standard inline-four engine) as well as the recent performance record of the team, which hasn’t won a rally since 2005.
I bought my WRX in 2004 after Petter Solberg’s championship in the 2003 season, and have always enjoyed watching the WRC. In recent years the sport has only been available on the internet after Speed Channel dropped it’s coverage, so visiblity in the US has been low. Even so, I enjoy my car every day and it makes me sad to know Subaru won’t be involved in rallying next year. Lately the Japanese manufacturer’s models have trended towards luxury and anonymity in the search of sales at the expense of character and uniqueness. It’s disappointing to say that I can’t see myself buying a Subaru if I was shopping for a car today.
Going back to the motorsport side of things, it’s clear that auto racing is in for some hard times in the near future. Suzuki also announced their intention to withdraw from the WRC this week, leaving only Ford and Citroën left to challenge for the titles next year. Looking at F1, Honda dropped a bombshell when it announced it was closing it’s team before next season if a buyer isn’t found, which indicates how bad even the big car companies are feeling the economic crunch. NASCAR, nearer and dearer to most Americans, has seen the consolidation of several smaller teams and questions over future domestic manufacturer involvement. Losing manufacturers in any form of motor racing, while unfortunate for the publicity of the sport, can sometimes lead to a back-to-basics spirit of competition if the series in question can survive on entertainment alone.
I hope the Subaru factory drivers, Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson, can find rides with another team for next season. They are both quite talented and given the opportunity of driving a competitive car could pose a major asset to one of the remaining teams. Petter in particular is my favorite driver in the sport because he’s endlessly enthusiastic about racing and has stayed with Subaru through the good times and the bad. The picture above is of him during the 2003 Rally GB, which was the last event of that season. I have quite a few Subaru WRC pictures that I use for wallpapers on my computer, but this is one of my favorites. I especially like how you can see Petter concentrating in the car with his mouth typically open. He finished the rally first over Sébastien Loeb and in doing so took his only World Championship, for Subaru.