by Rob Wilkins
2006 and 2007 were both difficult seasons for
Subaru in the WRC. The Banbury-based outfit will however, introduce its new car in 2008 and a lot rests on that.
Crash.net Radio caught up with SWRT operations director, Paul Howarth
prior to the final event of the 2007 season, the Wales Rally GB and got him to turn his thoughts to 2008. Here he chats about the new Impreza, changes to the regulations and more...
Crash.net:
Paul, how is work progressing on the new Impreza?
Paul Howarth:
The team will be making an announcement in the near future. All that we really need to say for all the fans out there is that we are well on our way with a beautiful new car for the 2008 championship. We are not saying yet when it will be out. But the main priority is to make sure we deliver a new car for the team to use in the championship, which is competitive against the
Citroen and the Ford - and as long as we can do that we can get back to where we should be. It will be good to have a clean piece of paper and start again.
Crash.net:
The team haven't won now since 2005, how much pressure is there on everyone to ensure this new car puts Subaru right back up there with Citroen and Ford?
PH:
There is pressure for everybody - from the Japan side, from the drivers, everybody in the team, the engineers, anybody connected to the team. The pressure is there regardless. We are in this business to win rallies and the team has got a great history. We have just got to keep digging in and what is very noticeable is the amount of support from the spectators over the last two years, who have stood by the team and really seen the pain that has gone on. But we have just got to keep digging our way out of that and making sure we don't accept anything but getting back on the podium. We will only do that by beating our opposition, which all credit to them are very professional and very capable teams. We will have to lift the bar beyond them and that is the target for everybody in the team.
Crash.net:
Can Subaru take any positives from 2007?
PH:
I think the main positive is teamwork. Everybody has kept their heads up and kept going forward. It would be very easy for things to deteriorate in these circumstances. But everybody has given as much as they can. We have stepped back and looked at it in detail and we have identified how we are going to get back to the top. But the most positive thing for me to take out [from 2007] was teamwork. A smaller or bigger team could have got really frustrated by now. There has been frustration but hopefully we are on an acceptable track going forward. We have a plan. We have a vision and we have a target. You just stick to that until you meet it and then stop at the target forever really - or as long as you can until something else happens
Crash.net:
The 2008 edition of the Rallye Monte Carlo will be a ‘proper' four-day event - how has this gone down with Subaru and the other teams?
PH:
It was a four-day event last year [although on the Sunday we just had the super special stage around the Monaco
F1 GP circuit]. We had the two classic stages in the dark [on the Thursday night, which kicked off proceedings] and it is a new spectacle to [modern day] rallying [to run at night]. Watching rally cars through the stages in the dark and seeing them come through stages in the mountains is very good in my opinion. It brings another competitive edge to the rallies as well - drivers having to drive in the dark. Rallies now are very well planned when it comes to safety regulations etc, etc. It has taken rallying back to how it was.
