Antilag

Subaru announced Stephan Sarrazin is signed to do 4 rallies next year and be their test driver.

Sarrazin is a Prodrive signed driver in Sports Cars so it makes some sense to keep him for the tarmac events. And he is fast on tarmac. Still, what does this mean, why only four events?

My view is that Subaru are covering the weak link of their team – Chris Atkinson’s lack of experience on tarmac. Sarrazin is no Atkinson and it’s obvious Subaru think Atkinson could be a world champion. He’s potential to win is now pretty clear and with the fact he’s now done a full year, this’ll make it easier for him and hopefully will be steadier. Speed’s no issue. Atkinson will be free to just run on tarmac and do what he can without the pressure of manufacturer’s points scoring.

Very interesting in the end, especially given Ford apparently was after Atkinson to partner Gronholm. We will be following Atkinson with much interest next year

In other news, Duval has been linked to Skoda IF they stay in the championship next year. Certainly there are plenty who want them to stay and I do too. Not just that we need more manufacturers, the Fabia is a terrific little car and in a team better funded would be a world beater. Skoda seem to make a habit of that, make really good cars and not have the funds to run them to their full potential. As McRae proved, the Fabia is worth a shot with in 2006. If Skoda dont do an official team, maybe a good second tier team could grab them?

Lets hope they will be back