2003

Subaru carried Petter Solberg to his first drivers' title, taking four rally wins on the way. Both Subaru and Solberg benefited from the experience of four-time world champion Tommi Makinen, and it's clear that the latest generation of Impreza is a force to be reckoned with. One Achilles heel remains, which is the car's performance on dry asphalt. The Pirelli tyres help it achieve a lot in the wet, but in the dry it still falls slightly short. But there's a strong tradition of radical engineering at Subaru, which pushes the technical barriers constantly forward.

2002
The year began with a win for Tommi Makinen and ended with Petter Solberg's debut WRC victory. In between? Solberg had the measure of his more experienced team-mate for much of the season and finished in a deserved second place.Makinen was his former self on Rally Argentina until a huge crash on the final day put paid to adding to his 24 wins.
 

2001
Early season teething troubles with the new Impreza 44S left Richard Burns lagging drastically in the drivers' championship and convinced him to join Peugeot for 2002, a situation that even his subsequent phoenix-like charge to an unlikely title would not change. His only win came in New Zealand, but he was a factor in the lead battle on every gravel round from early summer and this consistent form saw him pip title rivals Colin McRae and Tommi Makinen. Petter Solberg spent much of the early season crashing, but then matured rapidly and proved beyond doubt he'dl be a star of the future. Markko Martin's limited programme denied him a chance to make the same impact, but he shone on most of his appearances. Fourth driver Toshi Arai was generally inconspicuous everywhere bar Cyprus, where he took an impressive fourth.

2000
Prodrive introduced a radically different model, the WRC2000, on the fourth event of the year, but, while it was a quicker car, it also suffered niggles that blighted the third quarter of the season. As a result, Richard Burns' title bid slid off the rails and team-mate Juha Kankkunen - who found the car hard to drive on the limit - lost interest altogether. The team invested in the future by signing two youngsters, Petter Solberg and Markko Martin, before the end of the year.
 

1999
Transitional year after Colin McRae's departure, but the combination of Richard Burns and Juha Kankkunen proved a potent one (third driver Bruno Thiry was dropped by the second half of the season). There were occasional fireworks between the young Briton and the Finnish veteran (notably in Argentina, when team orders were disobeyed), but Burns' late-season charge was enough to take him to second place
in the drivers' championship title race.
 

1998
Subaru stuck with Colin McRae and Piero Liatti, but the Italian began to feel unloved as Prodrive put its efforts firmly behind McRae's drivers' title hopes. As a result, Liatti was rarely a threat. McRae, though, was a contender until the penultimate round, when a rare Impreza turbo failure robbed him of victory in Australia. The famous pairing of Scot and Subaru ended with a whimper, thanks to a blown engine on the Rally GB.
 

1997
Subaru started the World Rally Car era by claiming the first victory, in Monte Carlo, with its stunning Impreza. Its driver line-up of Colin McRae, Piero Liatti and Kenneth Eriksson was strong enough to win eight rallies and lift the manufacturers' crown for the third year in succession, but none of the drivers managed to string together enough form to claim their own title. Subaru drive of the year probably came from McRae, who put in a mature performance to win the Safari.
 

1996
Colin McRae and Kenneth Eriksson were joined by Piero Liatti for the 1996 season. A strong finish brought McRae into second in the title race, but three accidents denied him a second crown. But the Impreza was still a decent enough package to win its second manufacturers' title in a row.

Pre 1996
Subaru wanted to change its image from a mud-plugger for farmers to a cult performance marque. Prodrive wanted a develop a relationship with a manufacturer in the world championship. Together, they launched the Legacy programme in 1990, then switched to the Impreza in late 1993. It was with this model that real success came, driven on by intense rivalry between Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz. The Scot came out on top in a fiery 1995 season to win the world title.