ARX
27 Dec 2018
Subaru Rally Team USA and Vermont Sports Car has offered a glimpse of its 2019 rallycross car in a Christmas social media post.
The post from Christmas day hints at a return to the blue and gold colours made famous by the marque in Europe in the late-1990s and 2000s and used by the American team during its run of success in the mid-2000s.
As well as the changed colour scheme, the image appears to show a handful of minor bodywork revisions – including the road car-style wing trialled at the end of the 2018 season – and a new 13-spoke wheel design. The car will be Subaru’s seventh different car in six seasons, and its sixth since it introduced the present WRX STI platform at the start of 2015.
SRT USA is set to run at least three cars in the 2019 Americas Rallycross season, with four-time US rallycross champion Scott Speed joining Chris Atkinson and Patrik Sandell at the team.
“I’m excited for the challenge more than anything,” Speed told me recently. “It’s going to be a challenge and I think that’s what I’m most excited about.”
“To be honest with you it’s more taking a leap of faith than anything,” he said. “It’s going to be going through the same process and the same growing pains as what happened when we first joined with Volkswagen and Andretti and you just have to figure it out when you get there. I would not have made the move if I didn’t think I can win.”
“I definitely do think the future is very bright, I’m very encouraged by that. I think that it’s definitely on a good path and that’s very exciting for everyone.”
As well as the three-car factory effort, there are also rumours of customer cars being offered by Subaru next year, as has been the case for the last few seasons. As of yet there has not been any official movement on this.
