Subaru Could Be Coming Back To The WRC

It's been nearly 15 years since Subaru called quits on the World Rally Championship, and yet, the brand is still indelibly linked with the series in many a car fan's eyes. That'll happen when you win three drivers' and manufacturers' championships apiece, while helping make icons of the likes of Colin McRae and Richard Burns. The sound of Impreza WRC cars burbling their way around the world's toughest stages helped, too. 

We might not have seen the last of Subaru in the WRC, though. At a media roundtable ahead of the Acropolis Rally, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem revealed that discussions are underway that could bring the Japanese manufacturer back to what was once a very happy motorsport hunting ground. 

Part of that process is Toyota and its chairman and former CEO Akio Toyoda, a motorsport fanatic who's keen to bring other manufacturers to the WRC to spice up competition. 

Mohammed Ben Sulayem said: 

“It’s not a secret I had a good meeting with Mr Akio Toyoda, and I ask him what we can do to attract manufacturers to the WRC and I listened to someone who is passionate - and he mentioned Subaru.

“They own a percentage of Subaru and they are going to support an initiative of Subaru entering. And I feel someone like him, when he speaks, he speaks with confidence.

“I hope that some of that will come [to fruition]. I feel more manufacturers are good.”

The Subaru World Rally Team competed from the 1990 season onwards, with its first drivers' and manufacturers' titles coming in 1995, with Colin McRae snagging the former. Further manufacturers' titles followed in 1996 and 1997, with its final two drivers' titles arriving via Richard Burns in 2001 and Petter Solberg in 2003. 

The team's performance declined in the following years, before Subaru pulled the plug in 2008, but that might not be the end of the story. 

Via Motorsport.com