Subaru to enter British Touring Car Championship with Team BMR

Warren Scott's squad has inked a deal with the Japanese firm and will run estate Subaru Levorgs in the category.

Scott will again join Turkington and Plato on the driver strength and another car might be added to the line-up.

The car will be fitted with a two-litre turbocharged Mountune Race Engines-developed powerplant.

Although the car is four-wheel drive in its road-going guise, it will be rear-wheel drive in the BTCC following a rule tweak last year.

Scott said: "I have made no secret that I wanted to take the team to the next level, and that meant getting a factory deal.

"Subaru has really engaged with this programme already.

"They are very fired up about it and this is the start of a great new chapter for us.

"The Levorg is Subaru's newest car and that is the one they want to promote, which is why it has been chosen.

"Although it is an estate car, it has a very strong drag coefficient and also the dynamics of the boxer engine mean that the weight is lower down in the unit, which will help with the weight distribution of the car.

"If you looked at all of the cars available that could have fitted into the BTCC regulations, the Levorg would be very high up on that list, which is why we are delighted to have secured this."

Plato, who was instrumental in pulling the deal together, believes the car will be a perfect platform for success in the BTCC.

"From all the initial work that has been done on the car, I am buzzing with excitement about this," said Plato.

"It is almost the perfect car for the modern generation of touring cars.

"Subaru is an iconic name with a successful motorsport heritage, and we want to write the next chapter with the firm.

"This is going to be something very different and I hope the public gets behind it."

Two-time champion Turkington, who drove one of Team BMR's front-wheel-drive Volkswagen CCs last season and claimed the Independents' Trophy, said: "We wouldn't have decided to do this programme unless we thought we would be more competitive than we were with the VW CCs that we had last season."