Subaru could make a return to the World Rally Championship in the future, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem claims.
The three-time constructors’ champion became synonymous with the WRC in the 1990s and 2000s winning drivers’ titles with Colin McRae (1995), Richard Burns (2001) and Petter Solberg (2003).
Subaru, however, exited the WRC at the end of 2008 due to the global financial crisis.
The brand has however remained involved in rallying through the Subaru Motorsports USA programme, which competes in the American Rally Association. The team has recently developed a new WRX rally car.
The talks have been helped along by Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda, a passionate supporter of the WRC, who has been actively trying to attract new marques to the series. Toyota already owns a stake in the Subaru brand.
However any sort of comeback won’t happen until 2027 & one hurdle for Subaru to overcome is the engine as the brand doesn’t have a power unit at its disposal that meets WRC regulations. However, Ben Sulayem has suggested Toyota could assist in this department.
Nevertheless, it would be a massive shot in the arm for the WRC which they badly need more manufactures to compete in the WRC1 category.
No confirmation has been made that if Prodrive would take on this project if the Japanese company where to return.
