Symtech Racing becomes official STI base team

Belgian team Symtech Racing has concluded a deal to become an official base team for Subaru’s motorsport arm in Europe.

The agreement means that Symtech Racing is an official partner team of Subaru, able to supply parts and prepared STI cars to customers within Europe.

Symtech Racing has enjoyed an extremely successful season so far, clinching the Production Car World Rally Champion with rising New Zealand Star Hayden Paddon, and this with two rounds to go.

On the final round of the championship on Rally Great Britain, Symtech ran an R4 specification Subaru Impreza for the first time, with which Paddon was able to set some impressive times, just missing out on a top 10 finish.

The latest base team deal allows the Grobbendonk-based team to consolidate its relationship with the Japanese firm, one of the prestigious manufacturers in the history of the World Rally Championship, with six overall drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles to its name. Very few teams are appointed as official base teams for Subaru, and it is therefore an honour and privilege to represent Subaru/STI in such an official way.

Symtech Racing is also launching a brand new series in 2012 for Subaru Group N cars, which will slot in just below the Production Car World Rally Championship. This innovative new series, called Rally Class, is designed as a stepping-stone to the Production Car World Rally Championship, with 5 rallies in a full-specification Subaru R4 car as the first prize.

Symtech Racing’s Wim De Boeck commented: "We’re obviously delighted to be reinforcing our relationship with Subaru, a company with which we have enjoyed a lot of success in the recent past. As a base team, this opens up plenty of new commercial opportunities for us, and it’s also a further guarantee to our customers of Subaru’s complete confidence in our abilities. We will also be stocking a wide range of parts and accessories in order to cater to all of our customers’ every need."

Dirk Van Der Sluys of Symtech Racing added: "Subaru is the most iconic manufacturer in the history of the World Rally Championship, so we feel very pleased and privileged to consolidate our links with STI at a really exciting time for our company. This agreement gives us a very special status within Europe, enabling us to provide the best possible service and a car that benefits from the very latest evolutions within the class. After an extremely successful 2011, we’re looking forward to more of the same in the future !"