New Subaru set for Mexico
Subaru has confirmed that it remains on course for its brand new Impreza to make its debut in the Mexico Rally next year, after deciding to stick with an updated version of its 2004 car for the season-opening Monaco and Sweden events
With the first two rallies of the year taking place on snow, team boss David Lapworth has confirmed that the outfit's chances of victory will likely be boosted by it focusing on tyres and strategy for the first two rounds - before unleashing its 2005 model for the third round of the championship. It adopted such a tactic this year.
"For the current car, any new developments will be fairly conservative for the first two events of the season (Monte Carlo and Sweden) as they're rallies where the focus is very much on tyres and tactics," said Lapworth.
"They're not events where we feel we have to push for one tenth of a second per kilometre and, as both offer a massive variety of conditions, the best plan is to concentrate on preparation.
"The new car is the biggest single development project we're working on at the moment. The plan is to launch it in Mexico and we're already well into its test plan. As well as completing a second endurance test this week, we're undertaking a series of performance appraisals before the start of the season."
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