The World Rally circuit would be lesser if it hadn't been for the Blue and Yellow cars of the Subaru World Rally Team. With the largest fan following amongst all the teams, Subaru's rally team has almost become the face of the World Rally Championships. With two big guns, Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson, behind the wheel, the team will be looking to counter a disappointing 2007 season with a better performance in 2008.

Subaru is often termed as the 'Ferrari' of Rallying and their performances have deemed the brand as a match for many of it's European rivals. A long list of star drivers including Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae and most recently, their current driver Petter Solberg, have driven for the team.
The team was established in 1989 and the Subaru Prodrive was the first car to participate for the team. This car was deemed unfriendly for rallying and the team switched, in 1993, to the more durable Impreza. Based out of Banbury, England, the team hired Carlos Sainz and, then rising star, Colin McRae. A dramatic 1995 season saw the Soctsman take the team to the World title for himself, as well as the team.

Sainz left the team at the end of 1995, but McRae led the team to second place in the 1996 standings.

Rule changes in 1997 meant that teams were allowed to make better and more dramatic evolutions of road cars. The 1997 Monte Carlo rally saw the new Impreza WRC win it thanks to the driving ability of Piero Liatti. Kenneth Eriksson continued the battle for the team and the 8 wins got them their third consecutive manufacturers' title, but kept the drivers' crown away from them. In 1998, McRae finished second in the drivers' title chase and left the team at the end of the 1999 season.

Richard Burns, of Mitsubishi, came to the team along with Juha Kankkunen to finish second in the 1999 driver's title. Subaru suffered a difficult 2000 season where Peugeot took the honours and left Subaru trailing in their wake. 2001 saw Burns win the Drivers' title with the Blue and Yellow outfit and then move to Peugeot. This move saw Petter Solberg come to the forefront of the team with Tommi Makinen providing wonderful cover fire to the Norwegian.

Solberg was in blistering form as he notched up 4 wins and the Drivers' title in 2003. Makinen, up until his retirement at the end of 2003, gave unflinching support in his role as the second driver. Citroen may have won the Manufacturers' title that year but that just made their resolve stronger.
In 2004, Solberg won 5 rallies and if it hadn't been for a certain Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, the England-based Japanese outfit would have won the title in both departments.
Chris Atkinson was given the tough task of doing what Makinen had done so brilliantly and a third place in the team's home rally in Japan proved them right. Solberg, still the main man, won three more rallies but once again, Citroen and Loeb beat them to the manufacturer's and drivers' title respectively.

The team's form went on a downward spiral in 2006 and 2007 as Solberg could just manage 6 podium finishes from 32 starts. Chris Atkinson was unable to do anything and neither was Xevi Pons, their asphalt trump card. The 15 year old Impreza was still being pushed to the limit but things just didn't seem to work out at the end of 2 horrid seasons.
But its not all lost yet. 2008 has brought in a new car, a hatchback version of the Impreza. The car is faster, better and more reliable than the earlier versions and promises to give Solberg a better shot at the title. With new weaponry at and, the millions of fans around the world will be hoping that the change of colours to Blue and Silver, as well as a change of cars, will bring about a huge change in the fortunes for this legend of the World Rally Championships.