Subaru out of WRC?

NYSpeed Automotive
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Even more bad news (motor)sports fans. According to a report by Finnish sports site MT3.fi, Subaru will follow in the footsteps of Suzuki and pull out of the 2009 World Rally Championship (WRC) season. While Suzuki’s declaration was a surprise, Subaru’s exit from the world of rallying would be a serious blow to the sport as a whole and its fans in particular. A formal announcement will supposedly follow tomorrow, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the Finns got this one wrong. Thanks to Eralp for the tip![Source: MTV3.fi - Google Translated | Image: Ross Land/Getty

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/15/rumormill-subaru-pulling-out-of-wrc-tomorrow

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:tdown:

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I thought Suzuki just suspended their program. It seems extreme for Subaru to just pull out of WRC but maybe the FIA’s switch to S2000 specs was something Subaru didn’t want to deal with.

The WRC and Subaru go hand in hand.

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What a year

http://onemansblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/hell-frozen-over.jpg

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5456/flyingpigxf8.jpg

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Everything I’ve been hearing is that Citroen and Loeb are fed up as well and he will stop at the end of his contract with them and they are debating pulling out as well (after this season). Which would leave… Ford? Granted rumors has them buying Honda F1’s assets, so who knows.

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I don’t think I am going to trust a rumor from a Finnish MTV affiliate, when WRC.COM is reporting that Subaru offered Gronholm a ride for next season.
http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=3512&desc=Gronholm%20back%20for%202009?

But Suzuki is out for sure.

EDIT: Looks like it’s time to cry

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yea… if there was no citroen and subaru factory teams, rally will be pretty dead.

mitsu pretty much never puts in a full year since they are POS evo’s, and then you have ford, which may or may not go belly up :frowning:

how gay, such a sweet sport.

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Woah, hell has indeed frozen. :o

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:tdown:

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does this mean that STis are gonna get cheaper?

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straight from Dan at Vermont Sports Car

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It’s a good time for them to pull out for many reasons. You can’t blame them, but this does stink.

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Subaru pulling out…fuck it, their team wasn’t doing shit anyway. Perhaps Solberg will get picked up by citroen and atkinson will get picked up by ford and it’ll be the citroen vs. ford battle as it’s been the past few seasons. If Loeb left that would be more of a blow to WRC than Subaru pulling out. I could live with that only if Gronholm returned.

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I want to club Loeb like a baby seal.

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Whyzzz zat? cuz he drivez whis ze quicknezz? /Loeb acczent

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His friggin French smugness. And the fact that his car NEVER breaks. That pisses me off. He has a horseshoe so far up is ass…

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Loeb said: “With a testing programme in 2009, I would go to the Formula One grid in 2010.”
The winner of the last five world rally titles admitted disillusionment with the WRC, criticising the 2009 calendar, the evolution of the cars, and the regulations.

.

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I wanna call BS on that one. I think he has the “experience” or know-how that gronholm had. I think he’s a better driver than havinen. However, you see havinen faster often for 2 reasons. 1, he drives more reckless and takes more chances which in turn thrashes the car. 2, he and his fucking teammate latvila fucking always seem to sandbag so they aren’t clearing the fucking debris for the following day. I laugh when loeb puts up faster times being first car out of the gates. He’s smooth as shit and knows the roads and avoids being reckless and stressing the shit out of the car. If Sordo could keep up and help in the “sandbagging” game, Loeb would be dusting the ford boys more than he already does.

edit: Luck my ass…if I recall he was dominating one rally and got fucked cuz of someone (I think it was sordo) needing service and causing a head on with him putting him out and stuck with 0 points.