Rallying loses Subaru as global credit crunch bites

Dave Richards, whose Oxfordshire-based Prodrive company has run Subaru's cars for the past two decades, said: "Subaru's departure from the World Rally Championship is a great loss as it is one of the sport's icons.

"The Subaru World Rally Team created true champions such as Colin McRae and Richard Burns and its absence will be felt by many the world over."

Richards, who has been linked with a takeover of the Honda Formula One team, said Prodrive would look to redeploy their WRC workforce elsewhere in the company.

However, he also holds out hope that Subaru might return to motor sport in 2010 when new rules come into force aimed at cutting costs in rallying.

He said: "2010 will see the introduction of new World Rally Championship technical regulations, which provide Prodrive with an opportunity to prepare for re-entering the championship with a new team and build on its many years of World Rally Championship experience and success."

Subaru's Impreza cars were steered to world driver's titles by the late McRae in 1995, Burns in 2001 and Norway's Petter Solberg in 2003. Subaru also took the manufacturers' championship three years in a row from 1995 to 1997.

However, the company's star has waned in recent years, finishing third in the manufacturers' standings on four occasions since 2003 with their last win in a rally coming in Mexico in 2005.

Rallying does not have anything like the budgets of Formula One, where a team like Honda can burn through £300m a year, and the sport also has a long-standing tradition of private entrants.

But the withdrawal of Subaru and Suzuki in quick succession shows how hard the financial crisis is hitting motor sport.