Subaru pull out of world rallying

[Terrible One]

Subaru have become the latest team to withdraw from next year's World Rally Championship as the economic downturn continues to hit motorsport hard.

 

It comes a day after Suzuki also quit the WRC and less than a fortnight after Honda withdrew from Formula One.

 

Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg all won titles with the Japanese team in its 20-year history.

 

"This sudden decision is a response to the widespread downturn affecting the industry," Subaru said in a statement.

 

The team was established in 1989, when the manufacturer teamed up with Prodrive, a motorsport and automotive engineering group with dealings in the UK, Thailand and Australia.

 

"Subaru's departure from the World Rally Championship is a great loss as it is one of the sport's icons," added Prodrive chairman David Richards.

 

"Although this closes a significant chapter in Prodrive's history, our focus now turns to the future."

 

Richards, who also owns the commercial and media rights to the World Rally Championships, said the decision had been taken over the course of the weekend as the economic downturn claimed another victim in the world of sport.

 

"We had an urgent call for a meeting over the weekend," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

 

"Despite the fact that we have entered the championship for next year and were actually testing last week in Spain, Subaru just felt the sudden downturn in their business was so dramatic that they had to make some quick decisions."

 

Among his previous roles were stints as team principal at Formula One teams BAR and Benetton, and Prodrive may now look at a move into motorsport's highest tier.

 

The 56-year-old Richards admitted he would now have more time to think about such a step and said radical cost-cutting measures, which were announced by the sport's governing body last week, made a move into F1 more "realistic".

 

In the meantime, Prodrive has said it will be looking to redeploy staff assigned to the WRC programme, which accounts for around 20% of the company's turnover.

 

Subaru won six world titles in all, with the last coming with Solberg's victory in 2003. But recent years have been harder going for Subaru, with their last rally win coming in Mexico back in 2005.

 

Subaru's exit leaves just two manufacturers in next year's championship in the shape of Citroen and Ford.

 

Story from BBC SPORT:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/motorsport/world_rally/7785299.stm

 

Published: 2008/12/16 11:23:14 GMT

 

© BBC MMVIII

 

By the looks of it, I think next time all one make race already:cry:

 

 

 

 

Suzuki pull out of world rallying

 

Suzuki have pulled out of the World Rally Championship after only one season because of the current global economic crisis.

 

The Japanese manufacturer started racing in the junior WRC in 2002 and moved to the senior field in 2007.

 

However, in a statement Suzuki said they had "decided to focus on the core business functions".

 

Their withdrawal follows Honda's decision earlier this month not to race in Formula One next season.

 

They, too, blamed the world's economic crisis for their decision and have set a January deadline to find a buyer or the team will close.

 

Rallying does not have anything like the budgets of F1, where a team like Honda can burn through £300m a year, and the sport also has a long-standing tradition of private entrants.

 

However, Suzuki's exit leaves just world champions Citroen, Subaru and Ford chasing the manufacturers' title next year.

 

Ford are one of the Detroit Big Three seeking a bailout from the US government while Citroen have announced job cuts in France.

 

Suzuki finished fifth in their debut season as drivers Per-Gunnar Andersson and Toni Gardemeister helped the team accumulate a total of 34 points.

 

They added they will continue to support participants in the JWRC and also local motorsport events such as Swift Cup in Europe and the rest of the world.

 

"In responding to the contraction of the automotive sales caused by recent global economic turmoil, Suzuki has been promptly taking possible countermeasures, including the reassessment of its global production output," read a Suzuki statement.

 

"To secure its own business environment for tomorrow, the organisation reviews every aspect of the operations and decided to focus on the core business functions such as the manufacturing system, environment technologies and development of new-generation powertrains. As a result, Suzuki concluded to suspend the WRC activities from 2009."

 

According to former world rally supremo David Richards, Citroen, Ford and Subaru, his own team, are all assessing their participation in the championship on an ongoing basis.

 

"It is beholden to motorsport to get its own house in order and make sure that motorsport programmes are cost effective and give good value for money so manufacturers see it as a positive way of investing their marketing spend," he said.

 

"All forms of motorsport, and not just the world rally championship, have to be concerned about the manufacturer involvement currently.

 

"Whilst manufacturers are under such financial pressures in the normal marketplace, any discretionary spend is going to be avoided if at all possible."

 

However, he said the WRC would survive Suzuki's demise.

 

"When I was competing there were two manufacturers," said Richards, who was a world championship-winning co-driver with Finland's Ari Vatanen in 1981. "It was Ford against Fiat in those days and it was still great competition.

 

"The rallies themselves are populated by numerous private competitors, we (his Prodrive company) ourselves support hundreds of private Subarus around the world and in fact participating in the world championship this year will be a number of them.

 

"So it's not purely about the manufacturers and it should never be considered as that," he added. "It (Suzuki's departure) is disappointing for the short term for the championship whilst it restructures itself for 2010 onwards."

 

Rallying also has a problem that F1 experienced not so long ago, that of one dominant driver and team making the outcome of races so predictable that spectator interest starts to wane.

 

F1 had it with now-retired Michael Schumacher, who won five titles in a row with Ferrari between 2000 and 2004. Rallying has Citroen's Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, who ended this year with his fifth successive championship and a record 11 wins from 15 starts.

 

"You can't complain about Sebastien," said Richards. "He's one of the best drivers that we have ever seen. He's extraordinary but that's something else we have to face up to."

Story from BBC SPORT:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/motorsport/world_rally/7783076.stm

 

Published: 2008/12/15 13:48:53 GMT

 

© BBC MMVIII

[jB]

WRX 07 and WRX 08 is a big difference. Wrx 08 is the big difference and now they're pulling out. Whats the link?

[Demon]

Subaru quits WRC

Sad news: Subaru is pulling out of the World Rally Championship with immediate effect.

 

The withdrawal has been blamed on the ‘widespread economic downturn that is affecting the entire automotive industry’, and comes just a day after Suzuki also announced it was quitting the sport.

 

It’s the end of 20 years in the sport for the Prodrive-run team, an era that yielded six WRC titles and made world champions out of TG legends Colin McRae and Richard Burns.

 

Subaru’s decision may have been influenced by the new set of WRC technical regulations, announced this week and set to take effect in 2010. They specify that next year’s WRC cars will be based on current Super 2000 specifications, meaning that Subaru would have had to develop a all-new road car: clearly a prohibitive cost.

 

Prodrive chairman David Richards acknowledged that Subaru’s departure was a sad day for the sport, but insisted that his firm would now concentrate on other areas of business.

 

At present, only Ford and Citroen are committed to the 2009 WRC season. With Honda quitting F1, Audi pulling out of the American Le Mans Series and Seat ditching the British Touring Car Championship, the future’s looking bleak for just about every form of motorsport.

[Demon]

BBC Sports

Monday, 15 December 2008

 

Suzuki pull out of world rallying

 

Suzuki have pulled out of the World Rally Championship after only one season because of the current global economic crisis.

 

The Japanese manufacturer started racing in the junior WRC in 2002 and moved to the senior field in 2007.

 

However, in a statement Suzuki said they had "decided to focus on the core business functions".

 

Their withdrawal follows Honda's decision earlier this month not to race in Formula One next season.

 

They, too, blamed the world's economic crisis for their decision and have set a January deadline to find a buyer or the team will close.

 

Rallying does not have anything like the budgets of F1, where a team like Honda can burn through £300m a year, and the sport also has a long-standing tradition of private entrants.

 

However, Suzuki's exit leaves just world champions Citroen, Subaru and Ford chasing the manufacturers' title next year.

 

Ford are one of the Detroit Big Three seeking a bailout from the US government while Citroen have announced job cuts in France.

 

They added they will continue to support participants in the JWRC and also local motorsport events such as Swift Cup in Europe and the rest of the world.

 

"In responding to the contraction of the automotive sales caused by recent global economic turmoil, Suzuki has been promptly taking possible countermeasures, including the reassessment of its global production output," read a Suzuki statement.

 

"To secure its own business environment for tomorrow, the organisation reviews every aspect of the operations and decided to focus on the core business functions such as the manufacturing system, environment technologies and development of new-generation powertrains. As a result, Suzuki concluded to suspend the WRC activities from 2009."

 

According to former world rally supremo David Richards, Citroen, Ford and Subaru, his own team, are all assessing their participation in the championship on an ongoing basis.

 

"It is beholden to motorsport to get its own house in order and make sure that motorsport programmes are cost effective and give good value for money so manufacturers see it as a positive way of investing their marketing spend," he said.

 

"All forms of motorsport, and not just the world rally championship, have to be concerned about the manufacturer involvement currently.

 

"Whilst manufacturers are under such financial pressures in the normal marketplace, any discretionary spend is going to be avoided if at all possible."

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb has dominated the WRC

Sebastien Loeb has dominated the WRC for five straight seasons

 

However, he said the WRC would survive Suzuki's demise.

 

"When I was competing there were two manufacturers," said Richards, who was a world championship-winning co-driver with Finland's Ari Vatanen in 1981. "It was Ford against Fiat in those days and it was still great competition.

 

"The rallies themselves are populated by numerous private competitors, we (his Prodrive company) ourselves support hundreds of private Subarus around the world and in fact participating in the world championship this year will be a number of them.

 

"So it's not purely about the manufacturers and it should never be considered as that," he added. "It (Suzuki's departure) is disappointing for the short term for the championship whilst it restructures itself for 2010 onwards."

 

Rallying also has a problem that F1 experienced not so long ago, that of one dominant driver and team making the outcome of races so predictable that spectator interest starts to wane.

 

F1 had it with now-retired Michael Schumacher, who won five titles in a row with Ferrari between 2000 and 2004. Rallying has Citroen's Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, who ended this year with his fifth successive championship and a record 11 wins from 15 starts.

 

"You can't complain about Sebastien," said Richards. "He's one of the best drivers that we have ever seen. He's extraordinary but that's something else we have to face up to."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/world_rally/7783076.stm

[WildCard]

Damnz!

Was really eager to see Suzuki's new effort with the SX4.

[Terrible One]

Time to bring back Group "B"

 

 

Subaru’s decision may have been influenced by the new set of WRC technical regulations, announced this week and set to take effect in 2010. They specify that next year’s WRC cars will be based on current Super 2000 specifications, meaning that Subaru would have had to develop a all-new road car: clearly a prohibitive cost.

[jB]

Damnz!

Was really eager to see Suzuki's new effort with the SX4.

Heheh I was hoping if one day I could see them bring an Escudo Pikes Peak edition to race in WRC