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New Group N Impreza make a debut in New Zealand
Preview
Event News
10 April 2003
Two months after the mid-winter cold Sweden, the round 2 of PCWRC are now held in New Zealand, the Southern Hemisphere. 24 cars that entered the Championship gathered to Auckland, the center of the North Island where the scrutineering was held on April 5th. Much attention was paid to Toshihiro Arai and Possum Bourne of Subaru Production Rally Team as they brought the New Impreza just homologated in March. Arai, who had shown a superb performance in Sweden, keeping the top position but was forced to retire right before victory, brought with him the new car that had just shaken down in March and held private tests. He is debut rally of the new car. Bourne, on the other hand, is trying to make best of his advantage as home town boy, is aiming to crown the debut of new car with victory. Other Imprezas also fills the field; like Stig Blomqvist (Sweden) the leader in the drivers point standing with his win in the first round, Martin Rowe (UK) and Patrick Richard of Subaru Rally Team Canada.
There are total of 39 Group A and Group N cars making one-off entry to this event. Included are 11 old and new Imprezas like Cody Crocker of Subaru Rally Team Australia and Ramana Lagemann of Subaru Rally Team USA. Unfortunately, two New Impreza (Group N) with Norihiko Katsuta and Dean Herridge had made entry but had withdrawn due to the aftermath of the war in Iraq.
New Zealand in the Southern hemisphere is now in autumn with comfortable temperatures of 15 to 20°C. As there has been no significant rain fall, it is the best season for rallies. New Zealand has always been famous for high-speed rally, and underneath the loose gravel, the earth is stiff as a rock, and creates much more speed. In PCWRC, it is not only the reliability of the car but the acceleration and aerodynamic performance is being questioned constantly. The New Impreza with improved engine and torque performance, should have much advantage. Toshihiro Arai explained of the impression of the new car like follows.
"Because it became twin scroll turbo, the torque catches up quickly and we can go in to the mid-low speed corners in a higher gear, and acceleration had improved as well. The rigidity of the chassis is good, and the setup of suspension was fine during the shakedown. The rally will probably be in high-speed with hard road surfaces abusing the tyres a lot. But I want to show good performance. We always had the top time during the shake down, you know."
Arai nominates his teammate Possum Bourne as his greatest rival. Bourne did not attend the joint shake down, and done his own shake down test in his favorite track where he usually does his final set up for rally. Being the hometown boy, he forecasted the rally as follows.
"On the first day, I will drive the first three SS without the service. We want to make a good start here, and go with the flow. Leg 1 will probably be faster compared to Saturday and Sunday, and I think there are tricky corners. The corners have dome-like banks, so we need to set the suspension right."
Patrick Richard from Canada said, "I actually like these high-speed track because we have lot of these in Canadian Championship. Sometimes, it could even be faster in Canada. The car feels very good. They say Toshi (Arai) is fast. I will be introducing the New Subaru soon, so I will try to learn as much as I can from him."
American driver, Ramana Lagemann is already facing challenges. As he drives Impreza in the open class in SCCA Pro Rally Championship with roughly 400 horse powers, he said; m so surprised that Group N cars lack so much in engine powers. It is my first time to rally with pace notes, so I will learn as much as I can. And had seemed to be enjoying his first WRC rally. However, he hit his car on the bridge at the shakedown. Broke his suspension and returned for service. The World Rally gave the 23 year old American driver a hard welcome.
Rally will start on the night of April 10th, with the ceremony in Auckland.
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