The Japanese automaker is showing a new racing version designed to compete in the Nürburgring 24 Hours. The new race car will be fielded by STI in what will be the Subaru in-house tuner’s seventh consecutive outing in one of the world’s toughest endurance races. Engineers from both Subaru and STI worked extensively to develop the race car. It’s been designed to compete in the SP3T class, which allows production-based vehicles with turbocharged engines displacing between 1.6 and 2.0 liters. Subaru’s race car features a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder boxer engine, which hints at the unit we may see in its road-going cousin.
Like last year, Hideharu Tatsumi is serving as team manager and is also overseeing the development of the race car. As for team drivers, Toshihiro Yoshida and Kouta Sasaki both from Japan will be listed, along with two more drivers from Europe.
This year’s running of the Nürburgring 24 Hours, including practice and qualifying, will take place from June 19-22.
Subaru has been quite successful in the event in recent years. The automaker is aiming for its third class victory this year and sees its participation as a way to further enhance its engineering excellence.
In other areas of motorsport, Subaru will continue to field a BRZ-based race car in the GT300 class of Japan’s Super GT touring car series. With the upgraded 2014 version of this model, Subaru will aim at a series win this year. As in previous years, the team will be operated in conjunction with R&D SPORT led by Shinji Motojima. Drivers will include Kouta Sasaki and Takuto Iguchi.
Finally, Subaru will continue to support private teams in several rally events including the World Rally Championship 2 (WRC2) and European Rally Championship (ERC).
