Reigning
FIA Production Car World Rally champion, Toshi Arai has confirmed that he will use a World Rally Car on the Rally Japan in September, when he utilises the latest
Subaru Impreza WRC2006 on the event, the eleventh round in the 2006 FIA WRC.
Although Arai is defending his PCWRC title this year and Japan is included in that championship, luckily it is not one of his six nominated PCWRC events and as such it will not affect his bid to retain his Production title. Arai, who was apart of the official Subaru World Rally team from 2001-2002, will enjoy 'full service support' from the Prodrive-run squad during the build-up to his home round.
Furthermore, while he was raising the necessary sponsorship for his entry, he participated in a number of development tests with the SWRT in Sardinia in April and in the UK this month, to familiarise himself with the car.
"After all the preparation work, I am finally able to officially announce my entry in Rally Japan with a World Rally car," he told the official SWRT team website. "In addition to sponsors such as 'Sanden' supporting me in PCWRC, we also managed to get a number of other companies as sponsors for the Japanese rally.
"I've been able to drive and develop the car at two tests ahead of the rally, and found that its drivability has greatly improved in comparison with the 2002 model. The car's development is still ongoing and further improvements are being made, which I'm really looking forward to.
"This being my home rally, I believe I have the edge over the best drivers in the world. Although I'll be up against Petter [Solberg], Sebastian [Loeb], Marcus [Gronholm] and Chris [Atkinson] there, I'm determined to show my true ability and get onto the podium."
Arai, who has not driven a WRC car for four years and who won the Group N category in Japan in 2004 and 2005, will enter the car under the name of his own team: 'Subaru Team Arai'.
