WRC: Subaru to begin testing new car in final quarter.

[Rory Phoulorie]

Tuesday, 28th August 2007

The SWRT have yet to decide on when their new car will make its debut in the WRC next year - but...






The Subaru World Rally team have revealed that they are 'on schedule' with their new WRCchallenger and that testing with the new Impreza WRC should begin in the next few months.

Since the first images of the WRC �concept car' were released a few weeks ago, details have been thin on the ground, other than the fact the car will be officially unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, with number one driver, Petter Solberg in attendance.

Speaking to Crash.net Radio recently though, SWRT managing director, Richard Taylor was more than happy to fill in a few blanks, although he couldn't say yet when it will make its debut in the FIAWorld Rally Championship.

�That will really depend on how the testing goes,� he explained. �We are on schedule and the first body shell will be completed within a couple of weeks.

�We aim to be running the car in the last quarter of this year, which has been the plan for a while.

�We will see how the progress of that goes and also how the progress goes with the performance of the current car and those factors, combined with the events on the calendar next year, will decide when we will actually see it.

�Realistically though, we probably won't make a final decision on that until the early part of 2008.�

Asked if reports the car had been delayed are true, Taylor said that while there is a slight delay its nothing major.

�The original programme, to put this into perspective, was developed in 2005. We knew as far back as that that a new car would be coming, but the exact timing of it depended upon what Subaru's requirements were both from a marketing point of view and when the various editions of the road cars were released,� he added.

�So, I think when we said it would be 2008, everybody jumped to the assumption it would be Monte Carlo.

"But we never actually said that and we are quite comfortable with the sort of timing we are working to at the moment.�

So there isn't a delay then?

�There is no delay on the plan we have had in place for quite a long time. But as I say the original concept back in 2005 would probably have brought the car in a little bit earlier. However we are only talking about a few rallies and to be honest it is not a big deal,� he summed-up.

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