2001
Was this a season in which Prodrive changed too many things, so that it was not as competitive as usual? According to some statistics it looked like that. Or was it plain unlucky? Although Richard Burns won the World Drivers’ Championship, the Impreza itself slumped to fourth in the Makes standings, and there was only one outright victory (for Burns in New Zealand) to celebrate. New drivers (too many drivers, at times?) perhaps? A new car with too many innovations? Or maybe it was just one of those years when the opposition – Peugeot and Ford in particular – make great advances.
Although Prodrive dabbled with entering four cars at times, Burns was the acknowledged team leader, with Petter Solberg and Markko Martin the ‘coming-men’ for the future. Prodrive, at least, made a clean break with the past, for it sold off all the old 2000 models, and started the season with the ugly new four-door car (see ‘Car and Team’).
All three team cars retired from Monte Carlo, while Richard Burns set many fastest times in Sweden, but spent 13 minutes (an age, in rallying terms) off the road in a snowdrift. Three of four Prodrive cars retired in Portugal, with Burns off the pace, and, in Spain, Burns was down in seventh place without a fastest time to his name. Things improved in Argentina (the Impreza was always a better ‘gravel’ car than a ‘tarmac’ machine), where Burns finished second after fighting stage-against-stage with Colin McRae’s Ford Focus: Petter Solberg finished fifth, and showed real promise. Cyprus (also hot, dusty and rough) was a repeat performance, with Burns again second (by a mere 16 seconds), though Solberg’s car retired after a fire, which gutted his new Impreza.
On the Acropolis, Colin McRae’s Ford won yet again, with an Impreza second yet again (this time it was Petter Solberg), though Burns’ car broke its propeller shaft, and Arai’s team car was consumed by fire. The Safari, held in July for the first time, should have been tailor-made for the Impreza, yet all three cars retired, all of them with suspension-related failures.
For Prodrive, whose self-imposed high standards required regular victories, was now in despair, for although Burns notched up another second place (by 25 seconds to Gronholm’s Peugeot, so near and yet so far ...), his team-mates could not match his pace, and consistency. Richard did manage to win the Rally of New Zealand, while team-mate Solberg set the same number of fastest stage times (six out of 24). And this was the high point. Burns crashed out of San Remo on the very first stage (he mis-heard an instruction from his co-driver). While finishing fourth in Corsica he couldn’t match the sheer speed of the Peugeot 206WRCs: team-mate Petter Solberg finished fifth, just one second behind him, and Markko Martin was sixth – so there was finally consistency, if not rally-winning pace. For Burns in Australia, yet another second place followed (how frustrating his year much have been), and his amazing consistency throughout the season saw him go into the last event of the season, the Rally of Great Britain, with every chance of winning the World Championship.
As the cars lined up in Cardiff, Colin McRae led Richard Burns by two points, and immediately sprang into a lead that seemed certain to clinch everything. Suddenly, almost inevitably, the Scot crashed his Focus, leaving Burns knowing that he need finish only fourth or higher to win the crown. In the event he paced himself superbly, did not take a single fastest stage time, and finished a serene third, behind the victorious Peugeots. Team-mate Solberg suffered from a mis-reading fuel refilling rig and ran out of fuel, while Markko Martin’s engine let go. It was enough, though, and Subaru had yet another title to shout about, and looked ahead to making yet another fresh start in 2002.

2002
Because technical chief Christian Loriaux had left Prodrive in November 2001 (he moved north to work alongside Malcolm Wilson on the Ford Focus WRC cars), it was, indeed, necessary to make a new start. New World Champion, Richard Burns, frustrated by his stop-go 2001 season, had defected to Peugeot for a new two-year contract, Markko Martin had defected to Ford, and Prodrive had learned its lesson about running four-car teams – it was too much aggravation. The fresh-start, therefore, not only meant welcoming British American Tobacco’s 555 cigarette brand back on to the cars, but having Petter Solberg (known as ‘Mr Hollywood’ for his nightclubbing reputation) joined by four-time World Champion Tommi Makinen. Would this be the kick-start that was needed?
In the previous month, Burns had been involved in a seedy contract dispute between Subaru (which wanted to retain him) and Peugeot (which wanted to hire him): though details were never released, it is thought that Peugeot had to pay a lot of money to buy out the option that Subaru had on his services!
All this high-profile manoeuvring caused more heat than light, as the latest version of the Impreza would only finish third in the Makes Championship. Makinen’s record was poor, and even the glamorous young Solberg could only notch up one outright victory – at the very end of the year. Unhappily for Subaru, there were to be only two victories in what was a fraught season.
Even so, in Monte Carlo it all started well when Tommi Makinen won his debut event for Subaru, and Solberg (sixth, after problems) set five fastest stage times. Both cars retired in Sweden (one with a blocked radiator causing engine overheating, the other with engine piston failure, Makinen wrote off his brand-new car in Corsica, while Solberg’s suffered punctures, and, in Spain, Makinen suffered an engine failure which followed a radiator-damaging crash.
The Imprezas faired better in Cyprus – third for Makinen, fifth for Solberg – though if Petter’s throttle control had not failed on an early stage he might have won: fifth, and 2min 18sec off the pace was no reward. Makinen then comprehensively wrote off yet another Impreza in Argentina, while Solberg should have won, yet went off the road before ending up second, just four seconds behind Carlos Sainz’s Ford Focus.
There was no let-up in Greece, where Makinen’s car lost its power-steering, its brakes and a wheel (after an accident) in that order, while Solberg’s Impreza was fast, but had a temperamental engine. The Impreza, which had already won two Safaris, should have made it three in July, but Makinen’s car broke its suspension, and Solberg’s turbocharger failed. Way off the pace in Finland, Solberg nevertheless took third place on sheer consistency, with Makinen sixth.
Subaru ran four Imprezas in Germany, but two crashed, one blew its gearbox, and only Makinen (sixth, and struggling) made it to the end. By this time Makinen was really out of sorts with his new team, as his transmission broke a drive shaft in San Remo, though Solberg recorded another third place. Not even in New Zealand (where Richard Burns had won in 2001) could the Imprezas win again, for Solberg’s car broke its engine, and Makinen trailed home in third place.
In Australia, Makinen was excluded at the end of the event when his car was found to be underweight (it was running without a spare wheel at the time), while Solberg took third place, competitive again, and smiling for a change. The sun finally came out for Prodrive on the last event of the year – the Rally of Great Britain – where Solberg and Ford’s Markko Martin fought head-to-head throughout, though Tommi Makinen could only take fourth place. Not only did Solberg set the most fastest times – eight of the 17 stages – but he looked supremely confident, and gloriously happy at the end of what had been a frustrating season. It was Solberg’s (and his co-driver Phil Mills’) very first World victory – and it would not be the last!