Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI) and Subaru Tecnica International Inc. (STI) today announced SUBARU motorsport activities for 2015 with the theme of widely promoting ‘Enjoyment & Peace of Mind’ which SUBARU vehicles provide.

Capitalizing on the advantages of the common basic performance across its vehicles – the Horizontally-Opposed Engine and symmetrical layout with a low center of gravity, SUBARU pursues ‘Enjoyment & Peace of Mind’, and participates in motorsports which offer the ultimate opportunity to demonstrate its pursuits. SUBARU also regards competing in and winning races as a challenge to take on for all SUBARU fans and owners around the world.

Nürburgring 24-Hour Race
STI will take part in the 43rd Nürburgring 24-Hour Race held at the Nürburgring in Germany from Thursday 14 to Sunday 17 May with the SUBARU WRX STI. This will be its 8th consecutive year to compete in the race since 2008. Based on the WRX STI, the racecar has been tuned in various areas such as the aerodynamics, suspension, rigidity of the body and output of the engine. With this car, STI will be aiming to reclaim its dominance in the SP3T class for cars with turbo charged engines displacing 2-liters or less. Taking advantage of the characteristics of the high-spec base car, the performance of the whole package has been enhanced and together with its past experience in the 24-hour race, the team will be looking to achieve even better results than ever. Hideharu Tatsumi from STI will act as General Team Manager while STI employees and dealer mechanics picked from selected SUBARU dealerships across Japan will operate the team. As for drivers from Europe, Marcel Lasée and Carlo van Dam will be joined for the first time by Tim Schrick, the 2014 VLN champion. Japanese drivers are as yet to be decided.

SUPER GT Series
STI will run a SUBARU BRZ GT300 in the GT300 class of the SUPER GT series, the most prestigious motorsport category in Japan. The competition vehicle has adopted the FR system with the same powertrain layout as its mass produced road-going sibling. The performance of many areas of the car including the 2-liter turbo Horizontally-Opposed Engine has been enhanced for improvement in its comprehensive competitiveness. Together with R&D SPORT, which is the main operator of the team, STI will be striving to win the series, a goal which the team missed out on in 2014. Hideharu Tatsumi will continue to lead the development of the car and to act as General Team Manager. Hideki Yamauchi has been appointed as a new team driver and will be working with Takuto Iguchi who joined the team last year.

Other activities
STI has applied for FIA homologation for the new SUBARU WRX STI to accommodate the requests of its customers who wish to utilize the vehicle in various motorsports.