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THE SUBARU TROPHY CABINET
Letter from SWRT
19 March 2004
Take a trip to the Subaru World Rally Team headquarters in Banbury, England and you're sure to notice the impressive quantity of polished silverware on display. Since it was established in 1989, the Subaru team has claimed 39 WRC rallies, dozens of podium finishes and has collected hundreds of trophies for its efforts. The trophies are arranged on cupboards and shelves throughout the site, but undoubtedly the most impressive collection is the one in the main rally team building, close to the office of Team Principal David Lapworth. Fresh off the plane from Mexico we asked David to pick his favourite five trophies and explain why they are so significant.
Trophy 1 - Rally car of the year 1997
It's an Autosport magazine trophy that was awarded to us for the Impreza WRC97. The car was the first to be built according to the new WRC regulations and if you look back to 1997 it really defined what a WRC car was. The car won the first three rallies straight off, Monte Carlo, Sweden and Kenya and it went on to win the title for Subaru that year, its performance set the benchmark for other teams. To this day the car remains one of the most successful rally cars ever and this award is a good reminder of that project.
Trophy 2 - Tour de Corse 1997
This is the rally where Colin McRae beat Carlos Sainz in one of the most exciting battles I've ever known. It was on the last day of the rally and Carlos, driving a Ford, had the lead from McRae in the Subaru. It looked like Carlos would hold his lead to the end, but in service before the stage it started to rain, which put a different complexion on things. Both drivers chose an intermediate tyre and Carlos put in a good time over the final test. But Colin pulled out all the stops and produced one of the best single stage drives of his career to catch Carlos and take the win by eight seconds.
Trophy 3 - Tour de Corse 2003
Another Corsican win, but this trophy is special because we nearly didn't even start the event. I'm sure it's fairly fresh in people's minds, but this was the event when Petter crashed the car at shakedown and we worked through the night to re-build it ready to take the start the next day. Petter had gone off the road into a telegraph pole and the car had sustained a lot of damage in the accident. When we looked at what was left, our initial thoughts were not how we could repair it, but how we could get a replacement. When organisers ruled that one out we had to do our best with the bent shell and a body repair workshop we discovered near Ajaccio. In the end of course Petter went on to take the win, and the team of technicians who worked a small miracle won the Inmarsat star of the rally, which they richly deserved.
Trophy 4 - Argentina 1999
From time to time you get some competition between the drivers in your own team, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. This trophy was won by Juha Kankkunen on the 1999 Rally of Argentina and marked the start of a period when Juha and his team-mate Richard Burns each had something to prove. It's special because right up until the final two stages in Argentina it looked like Richard was going to take the win. Richard had the lead on the final Leg, and with Juha behind in second it looked like we were on course for a 1 - 2 finish. But rather than ease off the pace a little to lessen the chances of a mistake over the final kilometres, Juha pressed on and snatched victory from Richard by 2.5 seconds. As you might expect, this didn't go down well with Richard and over the next two events the pair were undoubtedly spurred on to push each other hard. Richard avenged the Argentina result by winning the next round in Greece, while two rallies later in Finland, Juha and Richard scored another 1 - 2 finish, again with ankkunen just ahead.
World Champion's trophy 2003
"Not a bad looking trophy is it? It's been on a promotional tour with Subaru in Japan for a few weeks. We're always happy to welcome it back to Banbury!"
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