The Subaru
World Rally Team officially unveiled the all new-Impreza WRC2008 on Wednesday evening, ahead of its debut on the Acropolis Rally of Greece, the seventh round in the WRC.
The new car, which has been billed as the most 'radically different Subaru
World Rally Car in 15 years', is based on the latest road going Subaru Impreza and the Banbury-based outfit will be hoping it will allow it to take the fight to
Citroen and Ford and end a winless streak, which stretches back to 2005.
The 'launch' couldn't come at a better time for Subaru, as the Rally d'Italia Sardegna two weeks ago exposed just how far behind the WRC2008's predecessor was to the C4 WRC and the Focus RSWRC07, with
Petter Solberg and
Chris Atkinson both well off the pace.
"We have done very well with the testing and development of the new car and the pace we have been able to sustain has been fantastic," SWRT chief designer, Christophe Chapelain told the team's official website.
"I'm really pleased with it. Progress has been very good and that is why we have been able to launch the car as early as Greece.
"We have had no major problems since we started testing, and we are quite happy with everything. Quite early on through the programme we were able to start fine-tuning, which allowed us to really progress well."
Asked how the WRC2008 differs to the WRC2007, Chapelain added that the main difference concerns the weight.
"The main difference between a car that has evolved and a brand new car designed from scratch is that we have been able to focus on weight saving in every aspect," he added. "It is about saving, saving, saving weight to be able to move the centre of gravity lower.
"Comparisons are hard at this point and competition results will show more clearly, but we have been able to apply a new ethos throughout. Components are lighter and the weight distribution and centre of gravity are very good – much improved."
So can the team win first time out with the Impreza WRC2008?
"I think out of the box the car will be very fast and can win stages. I think it will have the performance potential to win, yes, but there are so many factors you can't predict that go into winning a rally. The two things are very different," he summed-up.
