Tyre Choice Crucial For Subaru

After winning the last the last three rounds of the 2004 FIA World Rally Championship, the Subaru World Rally Team will travel to Corsica this week looking for their fourth consecutive win. Subaru team boss, David Lapworth, told the Global Motorsports website that tyre choice will have an enormous impact on the race’s outcome.

“At this time of year, weather is likely to play a large factor,” he said. “You can win or lose the event on tyre choice, and I think what won the rally for us last year was reading the weather conditions right and getting the tyres choices right, those things could well be factors again this year.

“The weather is often unpredictable, but even in the dry it’s a tricky rally as the roads are abrasive and rough. The drivers get the stiffest necks because it’s so twisty and bumpy, while the roads generate the highest tyre wear, the highest grip level and the highest temperatures so you have to look after the tyres – being fast over 50km is very different to being fast over the first 5km. If you’re a little bit too hard, it feels like you’re going faster, but actually the tyres are going off and you’re losing speed so it’s important to find the perfect balance between aggression, commitment and technique. Pirelli have also been working hard on the tyres and have made some good progress. However, we won’t really know where we are until we see the times from the first stage in Corsica. The benchmark is moving forward all the time and we don’t know what Michelin and the other teams have been doing.”