Suzuki and Subaru withdraw from the WRC!
 

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Rallying | Suzuki pull out of world rallying
BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Rallying | Subaru pull out of world rallying

I'm still upset over Mitsubishi pulling out two years ago, and now I discover that both Subaru and Suzuki are withdrawing from world rally competition. I sorta expected this from Suzuki, they were nowhere as successful in the WRC as they were in the J-WRC where the Swift was absolutely dominant. I'm stunned by Subaru's departure, they haven't been as successful since they went away from the first-gen Imprezas, but with the new third gen models, they looked ready to stage a serious challenge to Citroen and Ford's dominance.

A sad day for rally enthusiasts indeed. :sad:

That leaves the WRC with just four teams: One from Citroen and three from Ford (two of those teams are privately financed, however).

This is getting ridiculous. I hope the politicians and bureaucrats involved have learned their lesson from this credit crisis bullshit. Give it a year or 2 or 3 and things will hopefully be back to normal. Motorsport is a worldwide passion.

this is sad, I always like to see the Subaru guys get out there to compete, as they have such a rally pedigree. Damn Bush and his freakin wars for this shitty economy and for taking our rally fun away. By the way, kudos for Subaru and Suziki for being fiscally responsible, I am sure it was not an easy decision.

Most disappointing indeed. I wonder if more privately funded teams will show up, or if for the next few years the WRC will be simply watching Citroen and Ford fight for the top four positions.

What will happen to Atkinson and Solberg? Go to another team to race?

Probably the latter. There was some hope that after Mitsubishi pulled out that a private team would pick up the ball and run with it, but it never happened. I think Atkinson and Solberg might be forced to sit out this year. There were already a shortage of seats before Suzuki and Subaru pulled out.

Dark days are certainly ahead for racing fans.