Sebastian Loeb and Citroen had a comfortable win at the Acropolis Rally in Greece this past weekend, but much of the attention was paid to the race debut of the Subaru WRC2008. With Petter Solberg behind the wheel, the new Subie took ten top-five stage times the first two days and captured second place overall. The result was Solberg's first points since February and his first podium finish since last year's Acropolis Rally. The problem-free weekend and the fast pace were encouraging for the Subaru team, who see the new race car as a turning point. "This is it, we're coming back!" Solberg declared after the race. The next rally in Turkey will determine whether the initial success of the car was a fluke or for real. For now, check out the gallery below of the WRC2008 sliding its way to a second place finish.
WRC teams are gearing up in Greece ahead of this week's Acropolis rally, and just before its world racing debut, Subaru has released the details on its all-new Impreza rally car. You can pore over the specs after the jump, but the highlights of the Impreza WRC2008 include a 1994cc turbocharged flat four, running an IHI turbo equipped with the WRC-mandated 34mm restrictor plate and Subaru's own anti-lag system to produce 300 hp at 5,500 rpm and... wait for it... 479 lb.-ft. of torque at 3,000 rpm.
Power is sent to a six-speed electro-hydraulic transmission, through an electronically controlled center diff and down to the wheels through mechanical differentials, fore and aft. Bos shocks are being used in conjunction with the front and rear MacPherson setup, while AP Racing, 310mm discs are clamped by six-piston calipers both in front and in the rear. BBS wheels are fitted at all four corners, with 15-inchers used for gravel stages and 18-inch rollers for tarmac attacks. The rally racer's weight is set at the WRC minimum of 2,712 pounds. As always, you can follow the progress of the Impreza and the rest of the teams at the WRC website.
Next week's Acropolis Rally in Greece will be the first event in the 2008 WRC season to feature Subaru's new rally car. The Impreza Rally WRC2008 car was originally previewed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, but Subaru has yet to announce the final specifications of its new rally rocket. Obviously, Prodrive has had its hand in developing the new racer, but a BOS sticker indicates that Subaru will be utilizing the French outfit's dampers. Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson will pilot the new Impreza in Greece and Prodrive head David Richards is convinced that this is "the most radically different Subaru World Rally Car in 15 years." We're looking forward to seeing how it fares next week.
