Rallying fans will have the chance to bid on the Subaru Impreza that won the 2000 Rally GB very soon.
Seeing a World Rally Championship car appear at auction is nothing new. However, the Subaru Impreza ready to be sold through the Collecting Cars platform is no ordinary WRC warrior.
Described as “the most original WRC car in the world”, this is a truly special rally car.
An original motorsport icon
This is the Impreza WRC driven by the late Richard Burns, with his co-driver Robert Reid, to claim overall victory in the 2000 Rally GB. It helped Burns secure second place in the drivers’ championship, finishing only five points behind Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm.
Burns would go on to win the World Rally Championship in 2001, becoming the first (and only) Englishman to do so.
His tragic death from a brain tumour in 2005, aged just 34, robbed rallying of one of its brightest stars.
Although WRC cars are frequently sold to collectors, chassis #11 was different. A sale of the Impreza had been agreed before the rally, with the car being taken away shortly after crossing the finish line.
It meant everything was preserved from when Burns and Reid completed the rally. Energy bars could still be found in the door pockets, with a Nokia mobile phone charged for emergency use. Pace notes from the final day of competition were included, too.
The steering wheel, seats, and racing harnesses were the ones as used by Burns and Reid.
Preserved with purpose
Being taken straight from the rally stage meant the car did not return to Prodrive, responsible for running Subaru’s World Rally Team. As a result, the damaged body from the rally was preserved, including a dented front wing.
However, the 300 hp 2.0-litre flat-four engine, and six-speed sequential gearbox, had received attention in recent years.
The current owner acquired the Impreza in 2018, and subjected it to a delicate recommissioning process.
A comprehensive service was undertaken, with new fuel cells being installed. A replacement ECU, to allow the Subaru to use regular unleaded petrol, was fitted as well.
In fact, a total of almost £50,000 is said to have been spent on maintenance work, with the Impreza prepared for limited public outings.
This included an invitation for the car to be demonstrated at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2019. Here the car was driven by Alister McRae.
An Impreza like no other
For fans of rallying in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a car like the Subaru Impreza WRC2000 is a true motorsport icon.
To have been driven by one of the sports leading talents, who was cruelly taken too soon, makes it almost incomparable in its significance.
Expect the bids to be high when the auction for the Impreza begins on Collecting Cars.
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