Lapworth believes that Subaru is on the right track

David Lapworth, sporting director of Prodrive and former director of Subaru WRC, believes that the Japanese team is on the right track to return to the top level.

The Englishman, who hasn’t returned to a rally for more than a year since resigning from Subaru, was present in Japan where he observed the evolution of his former team. He is now working on the 2008 WRC Impreza.

« We have taken an important turn », said Lapworth this week. « There was no feedback from the drivers that the car was undriveable in Japan… »

« We know there is still a lot of work to be done, but we have been able to determine the causes of our problems, and the drivers are well aware of the situation. We had some issues with the settings not long ago, but now, we have overcome that hurdle. »

Lapworth is, however, reserved. While he believes that the new Subaru Impreza WRC 2008 will be much better than its predecessor, he does not think it will be capable of winning the early rallies of the season.

Defeating Sébastien Loeb on his pace will be difficult. Our car was put into the race almost 10 years ago… so we need to be able to improve it, but at the same time, we must devote time to the new model. Concluded the Briton.

See you at the end of January 2008 at the Monte-Carlo Rally to discover the real performance of this future Impreza.