Subaru’s WRC involvement dates to 1980. In September 1989, British firm Prodrive took over operations in partnership with Subaru Tecnica International (STi), moving the team’s base to Banbury, England. David Richards was the team’s Principal and a founder and chairman of Prodrive. Paul Howarth served as operations director and team manager, having replaced David Lapworth in 2006. Richard Taylor was the team’s managing director. The team used its WRC participation to showcase Subaru’s symmetrical all-wheel-drive technology and credited its championship success with increased sales, especially of the Subaru Impreza.
Subaru’s initial WRC forays were through Fuji Heavy Industries entries, largely confined to endurance events such as the Safari Rally, using the small front-wheel-drive FF-1 (1000 cc) and later the Subaru GSR coupé in 1300 cc and 1400 cc forms. From 1980 onward the team operated as Subaru Rally Team Japan, run by Noriyuki Koseki, the founder of Subaru Tecnica International, entering the Subaru Leone. A Subaru SRX also appeared at the Cyprus rally in 1980. Drivers in these early years included Ari Vatanen, Per Eklund, Shekhar Mehta, Mike Kirkland, Possum Bourne, and Harald Demuth. The team’s only podium in this period came from Bourne with third place at the 1987 Rally New Zealand.
Subaru entered its first Prodrive-developed car, the Group A Subaru Legacy RS, in the 1990 season. Finnish driver Markku Alén piloted the car through 1991, achieving fourth place at the 1990 Rally Finland and a third and two fourth places in 1991. For 1992 Subaru entered only seven of fourteen WRC events, focusing on gravel rallies. Drivers that year were Ari Vatanen with co-driver Bruno Berglund and Colin McRae with co-driver Derek Ringer, both achieving second-place finishes. McRae also won the British Rally Championship in 1991 and 1992.
The 1993 season brought the now-iconic blue and yellow livery alongside new title sponsor State Express 555. Vatanen and McRae remained the primary drivers. Markku Alén returned part-time after a brief stint at Toyota in 1992, taking fourth in Portugal. McRae scored Subaru’s first WRC win at Rally New Zealand — the last appearance for the Group A Legacy rally cars. At the following Rally Finland, Subaru debuted the new Prodrive-developed Group A Impreza, driven by Vatanen and Alén. Alén crashed on the first stage; Vatanen showed the car’s pace, leading at one point and finishing second. Other drivers at selected events included Possum Bourne, Piero Liatti, Richard Burns, Alister McRae, Per Eklund, and Hannu Mikkola. Subaru finished third in the Manufacturers’ Championship.
In 1994, former World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz joined the team with co-driver Luis Moya, taking the Impreza 555 to its first win at the Acropolis Rally in Greece. Later wins came in New Zealand and Great Britain with McRae. Subaru finished second in the Manufacturers’ Championship behind Toyota; Sainz placed second and McRae fourth in the Drivers’ Championship.
For 1995, Sainz in the number 5 car and McRae in the number 4 car led the team. Sainz won the season opener at Rallye Monte Carlo; McRae crashed out. At Rallye de France, Sainz, McRae, and third driver Liatti finished fourth, fifth, and sixth. At Rally New Zealand McRae took his first win of the season. Subaru locked out the podium at Rallye Catalunya: Sainz first, McRae second, Liatti third. Going into the final round, the RAC Rally of Great Britain, Sainz and McRae were tied on points. McRae won the event to claim his first and only Drivers’ Championship, giving Subaru its first Constructors’ Championship. Between them, McRae and Sainz won five of the season’s eight rallies. At season’s end Sainz left to join Ford World Rallye Sport.
For 1996, McRae drove the #1 car following his title. Teammates were Kenneth Eriksson (#2) and Piero Liatti, with co-drivers Staffan Parmander and Mario Ferfoglia respectively. Didier Auriol, the 1994 World Drivers’ Champion, also drove for the team at Rally Sweden. McRae’s first win of the season came at the Acropolis Rally; further victories followed at Rally Sanremo and Rallye Catalunya, the latter giving Subaru a 1–2 finish. Subaru successfully defended the Constructors’ Championship, but McRae lost the Drivers’ Championship to Tommi Mäkinen.
For 1997, McRae’s co-driver Derek Ringer was replaced by Nicky Grist. The team successfully defended the Constructors’ Championship for a third consecutive year, winning eight of the fourteen rallies, but McRae again lost the Drivers’ Championship to Mäkinen — this time by just one point.
In 1998, the line-up was largely unchanged. McRae took wins in Portugal, Corsica, and Greece, but bad weather and mechanical failures dropped Subaru to third in both championships. At season’s end McRae left to join Ford and their new Ford Focus WRC.
The 1999 season brought an entirely new driver line-up: Richard Burns with co-driver Robert Reid, Juha Kankkunen with Juha Repo, and Bruno Thiry with Stéphane Prévot. The new WRC99 car featured an electronically controlled paddle shifter with drive-by-wire throttle. After struggling through the first six rounds, the team then earned a podium in seven of the final eight events, recording five wins including three 1–2 finishes. Subaru finished second in the Manufacturers’ Championship, four points behind Toyota. Burns won in Greece, Australia, and Wales to finish second in the Drivers’ Championship; Kankkunen took fourth, winning in Argentina and Finland.
Burns and Kankkunen continued for 2000, with Petter Solberg joining halfway through the season. The team finished third in the Manufacturers’ Championship, with Burns again second in the Drivers’ Championship.
For 2001, Burns and Solberg formed Subaru’s nominated pairing. Burns won the Drivers’ Championship alongside co-driver Robert Reid — Subaru’s second drivers’ title. Burns then left for Peugeot at season’s end.
For 2002, Burns was replaced by four-time Drivers’ Champion Tommi Mäkinen with co-driver Kaj Lindström; Solberg continued. After Mäkinen’s Monte Carlo win and a difficult season, Solberg fared better — he finished the final round at Rally Great Britain for his first ever WRC win, moving him to second in the Drivers’ Championship ahead of Carlos Sainz.
The 2003 driver line-up was unchanged. After a difficult start, Solberg won in Cyprus, Australia, France, and secured a second straight win in Britain to clinch the Drivers’ Championship, edging Sébastien Loeb by one point, alongside co-driver Phil Mills. The team finished third in the Manufacturers’ Championship behind Citroën and Peugeot. Mäkinen retired from the WRC at the end of the season.
For 2004, Solberg was partnered by Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen with co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen. Burns had been planned as Solberg’s partner but could not return, having developed a brain tumour in late 2003; he passed away in November 2005. Subaru consolidated third in the Manufacturers’ Championship; Solberg won five rallies (New Zealand, Greece, Japan, Italy, and a third consecutive Rally Wales) to finish second in the Drivers’ Championship. Hirvonen finished seventh and was not re-signed.
In 2005 Chris Atkinson replaced Hirvonen. Solberg achieved back-to-back wins in Mexico and Sweden and finished second in the Drivers’ Championship, tied with Marcus Grönholm. Subaru finished fourth in the Manufacturers’ Championship.
For 2006, Atkinson drove the second car with co-driver Glenn MacNeall on gravel events; ex-Formula One driver Stéphane Sarrazin handled tarmac events. Rule changes banned active differentials and water injection and mandated car reuse across paired events. Solberg was unable to score in the first two rallies; team boss Lapworth was replaced by Paul Howarth after the team’s lacklustre start. Three second-place finishes for Solberg were the season’s highlights. Subaru finished third in Manufacturers’, Solberg sixth in Drivers’. The season — described as ‘The Season from Hell’ in a Discovery Channel series called Engineering the World Rally — produced no outright wins.
For 2007, Sarrazin left; Atkinson drove alone as the number two. Atkinson grabbed fourth in Monte Carlo; Solberg finished second at Rally Portugal following Ford’s disqualification for illegal rear-window glass. MacNeall left during the season and was replaced as Atkinson’s co-driver by Stéphane Prévot. At Rally Finland, Xavier Pons drove a third, non-points car. Solberg and Atkinson achieved only two podium finishes all season. Phil Mills described it as "the second season from hell." Subaru finished third in Manufacturers’, Solberg fifth and Atkinson seventh in Drivers’.
Solberg and Atkinson continued for 2008, with Xavier Pons gone. A FIA-mandated switch to Pirelli tyres saw tyre mousse banned and fewer compounds available. Atkinson scored his first tarmac podium at Monte Carlo. At Rally Mexico, Atkinson placed second — his best ever result. At Rally Argentina, both cars were running second and third when Solberg’s electrical failure handed Atkinson second. At the Jordan Rally, Atkinson secured a third consecutive podium following the suspension failure of Jari-Matti Latvala and retirements of Solberg and Sébastien Loeb.
On 16 December 2008, Subaru’s parent company Fuji Heavy Industries announced withdrawal from WRC, citing the economic downturn and a sense that Subaru had achieved its sporting and marketing objectives. Team principal Ikuo Mori denied that upcoming 2010 rule changes or a deterioration in the relationship with Prodrive had influenced the decision.
The team ran the Group A Subaru Leone (1980–1989), the Group A Subaru Legacy RS (1989–1993), and the Subaru Impreza in various evolutions from 1993 to 2008. Prodrive used its own internal nomenclature (S5 through S14) for the Impreza-based cars; SWRT’s nomenclature used WRC99, WRC2000, WRC2001 etc., with the 2007 car known as WRC2007 (Prodrive: S12b) and the 2008 car as WRC2008 (Prodrive: S14). Before each rally, bodyshells were completely rebuilt; this took 160 hours in 1993, 650 man-hours in 2003, and 780 hours in 2006.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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