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The Adapta World Rally Team has pledged to run at least one Subaru Impreza WRC2008 in the WRC in 2009 but its plan to be registered as a Manufacturer Team might be scrapped because of Subarus withdrawal from the series.
The manager of the team, Morten Ostberg, told wrc.com that Subarus departure would not affect the planned eight-round programme for Norwegian youngster Mads Ostberg.
None of the plans and contracts that we have with Prodrive to operate our car and equipment will be influenced at all by Subarus withdrawal, said Ostberg. Mads programme will be exactly the same as it was before and we are still working closely with some very good drivers hoping to drive our second car.
But Ostberg warned that without access to the resources of the Prodrive-run Subaru World Rally Team, Adapta might be unable to contest the 2009 WRC as a Manufacturer Team.
I dont believe there is anything in the FIA regulations that prevents us from running as a Manufacturer Team if Subaru are not competing as a Manufacturer - but there are some cost and practical elements to address, Ostberg explained. One thing that will certainly change is our on-event relationship with Subaru because our contract and our plan with Prodrive was to run the team alongside them - in the same way that Stobart runs alongside Ford - but now that cannot happen.
Under the terms of our original agreement all we had to do on WRC events was put up a couple of our own service tents and that was it - everything else was included in our package with the Subaru World Rally Team.
I know we have the capacity to run two or three cars ourselves, but we dont have the facilities to run them in the proper Manufacturer Team way unless we do this with the cooperation of, or as a joint venture with Prodrive, explained Ostberg. If that cant happen, then we are prepared to carry on just running our own team.
Discussions are due to take place as soon as key SWRT personnel return from crisis meetings with Subaru in Japan.
There are many possibilities, many things which can be done, but it depends on how Prodrive wants to approach it, said Ostberg. Its possible, for instance that we could use their equipment and maybe even some of the drivers. That is a possibility. Contractually its likely to be a complex area. I believe Petter is contracted to Subaru until the end of 2009 while Chris is contracted to Prodrive. I dont know for sure but right now we are willing to consider all types of possibilities.
http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?ln... World Rally Team sticks with Subaru for 2009
The manager of the team, Morten Ostberg, told wrc.com that Subarus departure would not affect the planned eight-round programme for Norwegian youngster Mads Ostberg.
None of the plans and contracts that we have with Prodrive to operate our car and equipment will be influenced at all by Subarus withdrawal, said Ostberg. Mads programme will be exactly the same as it was before and we are still working closely with some very good drivers hoping to drive our second car.
But Ostberg warned that without access to the resources of the Prodrive-run Subaru World Rally Team, Adapta might be unable to contest the 2009 WRC as a Manufacturer Team.
I dont believe there is anything in the FIA regulations that prevents us from running as a Manufacturer Team if Subaru are not competing as a Manufacturer - but there are some cost and practical elements to address, Ostberg explained. One thing that will certainly change is our on-event relationship with Subaru because our contract and our plan with Prodrive was to run the team alongside them - in the same way that Stobart runs alongside Ford - but now that cannot happen.
Under the terms of our original agreement all we had to do on WRC events was put up a couple of our own service tents and that was it - everything else was included in our package with the Subaru World Rally Team.
I know we have the capacity to run two or three cars ourselves, but we dont have the facilities to run them in the proper Manufacturer Team way unless we do this with the cooperation of, or as a joint venture with Prodrive, explained Ostberg. If that cant happen, then we are prepared to carry on just running our own team.
Discussions are due to take place as soon as key SWRT personnel return from crisis meetings with Subaru in Japan.
There are many possibilities, many things which can be done, but it depends on how Prodrive wants to approach it, said Ostberg. Its possible, for instance that we could use their equipment and maybe even some of the drivers. That is a possibility. Contractually its likely to be a complex area. I believe Petter is contracted to Subaru until the end of 2009 while Chris is contracted to Prodrive. I dont know for sure but right now we are willing to consider all types of possibilities.
http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?ln... World Rally Team sticks with Subaru for 2009
