McRae’s And Mäkinen’s Subaru Imprezas Lead Star-Studded World Rally Line-Up At Petrolicious Drivers’ Meeting

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For many, the 1990s and early 2000s was a golden age of world rallying, perhaps its greatest ever aside from the gloried Group B category of the 1980s. And in that time Subaru was arguably world rallying’s most dominant force. It took no fewer than three drivers’ and three manufacturers’ crowns, the latter trio won in an unbeaten spell from 1995 to ’97, as well as 47 rally victories. Its drivers from this time read rather like a who’s who.

All of the titles and virtually all of the rally wins came with Subaru Imprezas, and the forthcoming Petrolicious Drivers’ Meeting on May 12 at Bicester Heritage, UK, is to feature a special celebration display of successful rally Imprezas from this period in WRC and elsewhere, including those driven by legends Colin McRae and Tommi Mäkinen.

The line-up coming to Bicester is led by R19WRC in which McRae won the WRC Rally Portugal in 1998, on his way to third place in that year’s championship. He also took the car to victory in that year’s Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) Rally China, his second win in a row in that event. In addition McRae’s team-mate Kenneth Eriksson finished fourth in that year’s WRC Swedish Rally in the car. The Impreza in which Eriksson won the previous year’s Swedish Rally, P5WRC, will also be present in Bicester. It was his first WRC win of two that year on his way to fifth in the final table. He also finished runner-up to McRae in the car in the 1997 China Rally.

Attendees in Bicester will also be able to get up close with X27SRT in which four-time World Rally champion Mäkinen drove for some of the 2002 WRC season. He picked up two third places in the car that year in Cyprus and New Zealand, as well as retired with technical problems in Sweden and the Safari Rally. Visitors will also get to see P162EUD in which Krzysztof Hołowczyc dominated the 1997 European Rally Championship, winning no fewer than three ERC rallies in this very car as well as taking two third places, a fifth and a sixth in it. He also entered the vehicle in that year’s WRC RAC Rally, but crashed out.

The Imprezas, courtesy of Subaru rally specialists Autosportif Engineering, will be among the star attractions at the Petrolicious Drivers’ Meeting at the renowned Bicester Heritage, in Oxfordshire, UK, on Sunday May 12. For more about the show see this story.

To apply to have your vehicle included in the show, please visit this link: application form to show your car

General attendance tickets are available for purchase here for £12.50, and remaining tickets will be sold at the gate for £15.00. Petrolicious Members and kids under 16 get in free.

Images courtesy of Wales Rally GB and Prodrive