Subaru of America, Inc. announced today that it would be returning to the Rally America National Championship in the Open class with a 2-car program in 2011.  Led by current Subaru Rally Team USA (SRT USA) driver Dave Mirra and joined by British seasoned rally driver David Higgins; each driver will be piloting a Subaru Impreza WRX STI prepared and fielded by technical partner Vermont SportsCar. Higgins brings extensive rallying experience to SRT USA, most recently competing in the Chinese Rally Championship having gone on to help his team secure championship titles in 2004, 2007 and 2009.

Rally GB, the ninth and final event in the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship (P-WRC) was held from November 11-14, based in the capital of Wales, Cardiff. Title hopeful, Sweden’s Patrik Flodin had a change in fortune to finish fifth, and ended the season second in the championship. As has happened on many occasions, Rally GB was the final event on the WRC calendar. Following the ceremonial start on the evening of November 11, the rally consisted of 20 stages and 359.44 kilometres of racing. Apart from Flodin, other Subaru entrants included Toshi Arai (Japan), Gianluca Linari (Italy), Rui Wang (China), Anders Grondal (Norway) and Spyros Pavlides (Cyprus). Two wildcard entrants were provided by the host country’s ASN, 20-year-old David Weston Jr. (Great Britain) and Jason Pritchard (Great Britain).

In their first event ever, Aaron Ekinaka and Albert Goad in the DirtyImpreza.com Rally Team (DIRT) Project RS took the win in CRS-GT and USRC Production AWD at Prescott Rally this past October 1st and 2nd. Seeded dead last in 22nd position to start, their goal was to drive clean and smooth in order to finish the rally with destroying the recently built 2001 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS. Their strategy paid off as over the two days they were able to advance up the leader board into 10th position overall. This feat was acknowledged at the awards ceremony by MSI and event organizer Michael Taylor in the form of a check for $50 to the “Most Improved Driver”.

At the 2010 running of the Prescott Rally, east coast teams met with west coast teams for a showdown that would determine who would take top honors in the United States Rally Championship (USRC). Keith Jackson and Marra Estep were defending their title as USRC 2009 Open AWD class champions as they attacked the narrow, winding stages that worked their way up and down the mountains near Prescott, Arizona. The DIRT / Jackson Rally 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STi had been meticulously prepared for this final event.

Round 8 of the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship (P-WRC), “Rally de France” was held in Alsace in Eastern France from October 1 - 3 with Japanese driver Toshi Arai finishing third in his WRX STI. The WRC event in France has become a completely new rally, moving from its long-time base in Corsica to Alsace near the German border. Along with Arai, the line-up of Subaru P-WRC drivers in this new-look rally was Anders Grondal (Norway), Gianluca Linari (Italy), Rui Wang (China), Nuno Barroso Pereira (Portugal) and David Weston Jr. (UK). Taking part in his first P-WRC event at the tender age of 20, the Brit drove for Uspenskiy Rally Tecnica, which substituted him for its regular driver Patrik Flodin who missed this event.

Okay, the field was pretty thin this year at the Redline time attack held last weekend at Spring Mountain, but the GST lap times speak volumes. Gary Sheehan delivered a blistering 2:18.057!  Which is only two thousands of a second off of the AWD lap record from last year by the AMS Evo X, driven by Paul Gerard. Despite this amazing lap time, Gary said that he had some areas on the track where he felt he could have improved his time. But that is the nature of the beast, we always think we can do better. Congratulations to Gary Sheehan and Mike Warfield for having such a tight running car and team!

Out in the middle of the Nevada desert lies 3.1 miles of winding pavement known as Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch. This country club facility is without a doubt one of the nicest stops on the 2010 Redline Time Attack circuit, but it also has a special history as being the site of the first ever Redline Time Attack event back in 2005. Back then, Tarzan Yamada took the event win in the Swift Springs Nissan S15 with a 2:xx.xxx lap. Last year, it was Paul Gerrard in the AMS Performance / NOS Energy Drink Mitsubishi Evo X who emerged victorious with a 2:18.055. The sport, the cars, and the teams have come a long way since the birth of the Redline Time Attack series back in 2005 and this year the progression continued as track records fell in many of the classes.

Officials with Vermont SportsCar, located in Colchester, Vermont and the Mt. Washington Auto Road, located in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire, announced today that the legendary Mt. Washington Climb to the Clouds Automobile Hillclimb will be returning June 22-26, 2011 as a major motorsports event.  The Mt. Washington Climb to the Clouds, first run in 1904, is one of America’s oldest motorsports events.  The 7.6 mile Auto Road is one of the ultimate challenges for driver and automobile, the serpentine tarmac and gravel road is lined with trees and dramatic drop-offs as it winds its way to the 6,288 foot summit of the Northeast’s tallest peak.  Organized by Vermont SportsCar and sanctioned by RallyCar, the 2011 Climb to the Clouds will be a 5-day festival of motorsports that hopes to attract a 70-car competition field filled with some of the best drivers from around the world competing for “King of the Hill” honors. 

The 149-year-old Mt. Washington Auto Road has seen the likes of horses and carriages, camels, people, bicycles and most famously, competition race cars. Yesterday, traveling at an average speed of nearly 72 miles per hour in a Vermont SportsCar prepared, BFGoodrich Tires-shod 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car, four-time Rally America National Champion Travis Pastrana made sure the project name, Red Bull Speed Chasers, lived up to its name. He reached the summit faster than anyone else in history by clocking an officially timed run of 6 minutes 20.47 seconds, besting the previous record by more than twenty seconds. Amazingly, Pastrana achieved the impressive time on his first ever high-speed run to the summit. Pastrana has effectively thrown down the gauntlet in advance of the legendary Mt. Washington “Climb to the Clouds” Automobile Hillclimb, which will take place in 2011 after a 10-year hiatus.

Crawford Performance is pleased to announce a spectacular final for X-Games 16 Rally Cross. Stephan Verdier and his Crawford Performance Powered Rally Cross Car / Drift Car / Gymkhana Car debutted for the first ever Rally Cross held by X-Games. Currently Verdier’s car competes not only in Formula D, but also in various Gymkhana event held around the country in RWD format. When X-Games invited Stephan for the Rally Cross event, the car was converted to AWD format and a 45mm restrictor installed to restrict the power levels to equal the playing field for all competitors.

Subaru driver Travis Pastrana dominated the majority of the New England Forest Rally this past weekend at the wheel of his BFGoodrich Tires-shod 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI before a problem with his engine stopped him on the penultimate competition stage, forcing him to retire.  Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom were able to pull away convincingly from the competition early and built a lead of over three minutes on the event’s technical gravel roads that snake through the forests along the Maine-New Hampshire border.  Then unexpectedly, with under fifteen competitive stage miles remaining, Pastrana experienced an engine problem which forced him to stop on stage, ending his run to victory.

Subaru of America, Inc. is inviting fans to participate in an hour-long interactive conference call featuring Subaru Rally Team USA drivers, Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra, Monday, July 26 at 6 p.m. EST. On the call, fans can ask questions and hear Travis and Dave talk about their preparation and plans for X Games 16, their love of Rally and the launch of the all-new 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX and STI. “Travis and Dave love their fans and this is a unique way to connect with them on a more personal level,” said Todd Lawrence, promotions and sponsorship manager, Subaru of America, Inc. “They are looking forward to talking about what’s going on with the Subaru Rally Team and are eager to drive their Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally cars at X Games in Rally Car Racing and the all-new SuperRally event.”

Subaru Rally Team USA announced today the selection of Sverre Isachsen of Norway, the defending FIA European Rallycross Champion, to fill the team’s guest driver slot at the 2010 ESPN Summer X Games 16 in Los Angeles, California on July 31st.  Isachsen will join Subaru Rally Team USA star drivers Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra for the debut of SuperRally at the X Games, each will drive a 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI modified for Rallycross with an over 550 horsepower Boxer engine and Symmetrical All Wheel Drive. 

Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) drivers Andrew Aquilante, from Chester Springs, Pa., and Bret Spaude, from Bushnell, Fl., finished 13th in Saturday’s 2.5-hour GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Held on the 2.258-mile, 15-turn circuit, and from a 15th place qualifying position, only 0..765 seconds off the pole, Spaude and Aquilante raced their 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI to as high as seventh place in the 29-car Grand Sport field.

Nearly 2000 enthusiasts gathered amongst over 1000 Subarus at Wachusett Mountain Ski area for the 5th annual Wicked Big Meet, the largest gathering of Subarus in the make’s history on US soil. Subaru of New England presented the event and enthusiasts drove from as far as Oklahoma to view each other’s cars despite the fog and rain. Says Robert Champion, the director of Wicked Big Meet, “The day was so incredibly foggy that you truly couldn’t see more than a few rows of cars at a time. You could think that you’d reached the edge of the show over and over - with more cars to see each time.”