WRC: Subaru will improve

[Rory Phoulorie]

Subaru 'will only improve from here' - EXCLUSIVE.

by Russell Atkins

David Richards has predicted a rapid return to winning ways for Subaru, following the new Impreza WRC 2007's impressive debut in Mexico last weekend.

Although the team ultimately came away with only four points from the event courtesy of Chris Atkinson's eventual fifth place, the Australian's team-mate Petter Solberg led the rally early on, edging out even reigning triple world champion Sebastien Loeb before a loss of engine oil led to an unfortunate early bath on the road section to SS6. Richards is confident, however, the performance was a positive sign of things to come.

�I take away a lot of encouragement actually,� the Prodrive chairman told Crash.net. �It was the S12B's first outing, and it obviously had its teething problems as we saw. It was an unusual failure that we've never seen before on a component that hadn't changed, but these things happen.

�The fact Petter set four fastest times and was leading the event at that point on the first day, fighting it out with Sebastien, gives us great optimism for the next rounds and for the development of the car. It will only improve from here, I'm quite certain of that, and we have a brand new car coming next year too.�

Incredibly, it is now 25 rallies since a Subaru driver last triumphed on a WRC event, following a demoralising 2006 season that saw the Banbury-based outfit finish a distant fourth in the manufacturers' championship, a massive 89 points adrift of world champions Ford. Richards is adamant that unenviable run will soon be broken.

�I would think this year we can be confident now we have seen the performance of the new car,� he asserted, �that podiums will be a regular occurrence. I'm sure we will be back on the top step of the rostrum before long.�

http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~4~id~144462.htm

[Plex]

Rally Mexico subaru had bad luck i guess next rally they will do better..

[Rory Phoulorie]