Richards says new Subaru a winner
| By Steven English |
Thursday, January 17th 2008, 13:01 GMT |
Prodrive boss David Richards claims the new Subaru Impreza will be a winner when it's introduced to the World Rally Championship later this year.
The former world champions haven't won a rally in either of the last two seasons, but Richards believes the new car will be able to put that right in its first year.
He told this week's Autosport: "The car will win on any surface this year and I believe both our drivers are capable of doing it.
"We've had no problems with it so far and, with the resources we've got working on it, I don't see why we shouldn't have a competitive car by mid-year."
The new Impreza is due for its first gravel test next week and Richards isn't worried about a lack of testing time before entering the car in WRC events.
"Look at what Ford did. When its new car came out it had done two days of testing. We started this car over a year ago - you run the thing for as much time as you have available."
Subaru's lead driver Petter Solberg is eager to get his hands on the new car: "I haven't tested it yet because the team wants to get it 100 per cent ready before we drive it. But it looks very exciting and I'm looking forward to getting in it."
The team have not yet decided when the car will make its debut, but will definitely start the season with last year's model.
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