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January 14, 2022

2022 SUBARU Motorsport Activities

Tokyo, January 14, 2022 — Subaru Corporation and its motorsport subsidiary Subaru Tecnica International Inc. (STI)*1 announced an overview of motorsport activities for 2022.

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SUBARU BRZ GT300 2021 WRX STI NBR Challenge 2022

SUPER GT Series
Subaru will compete in the GT300 class of the SUPER GT Series with the SUBARU BRZ GT300 race car. In 2021 series, the team won the series championship for the first time in the 13 years of racing in the SUPER GT Series.
The Team General Manager will be Masahiro Ozawa of STI, and team operations will be managed by R&D SPORT*2. Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi, the championship winning drivers in the 2021 season, will be driving for the team again for the 2022 series.
The race car for 2022 incorporates refinements including increased power output and improved reliability in Subaru Boxer engine, optimized chassis design and aerodynamics as well as improved roadholding performance. With these refinements, Subaru aims to win the second consecutive series championship.

Nürburgring 24-Hour Race
The 50th Nürburgring 24-Hour Race will take place in Germany on May 28-29, and Subaru will compete in the SP3T class*3 with the WRX STI NBR Challenge 2022 race car for the first time in 3 years since 2019.
The Team General Manager Hideharu Tatsumi and the Team Manager Takuya Sawada both from STI will lead the team and four drivers, Kota Sasaki (Japan), Carlo van Dam (Netherlands), Tim Schrick (Germany), and Marcel Lasee (Germany) will be driving for the team.
Compared to the 2021 race car, the 2022 car wears wider tires, has the body rigidity balance been reviewed and received body stiffening. With the adoption of an electric power steering on top of these, the team pursues even better performance than the class winning 2019 race car. With the enhanced overall performance, Subaru aims to win the SP3T class and best-ever overall ranking for the team above 18th in the 2019 race.

Japanese Rally Championship
Subaru will be supporting three drivers, Takuma Kamada, who has placed the third overall in the 2021 series ranking, Toshihiro Arai and Hiroki Arai. These drivers will be competing in the JN1*4 class of the Japanese Rally Championship with the WRX STI rally cars.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR86/BRZ Cup
STI will dispatch its technical service team to each round of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR86/BRZ Cup race and provide technical supports for the SUBARU BRZ drivers.

Super Taikyu Series
In order to have various options toward the realization of carbon neutrality, Subaru will participate in the Super Taikyu Series with the race car using carbon neutral synthetic fuel. Our alliance partner Toyota also plans to participate in the series.
For this challenge, SUBARU newly develops a SUBARU BRZ based race car powered by an internal combustion engine that uses carbon neutral synthetic fuel and participates in ST-Q*5 class to implement testing at racing events. Toyota also participates in the same class with a GR86 based race car.
With the members of Subaru Driving Academy*6 at its core, Subaru employees belonging to Subaru Engineering Division will work on the challenge and take a role to develop and build the race car. The team will be led by the team manager Masahito Motoi, and as for drivers, Super GT Driver Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi along with a Subaru engineer Koichi Hirota will be driving the race car.
By collaborating and competing together in racing, Subaru and Toyota plan to accelerate the development of technologies for all options and take on the challenge of achieving carbon neutrality.
Subaru will also utilize this opportunity for development of engineering human resources for our future.

*1: Located in Mitaka, Tokyo, the company manages motorsport activities of Subaru
*2: Located in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa
*3: Class for sub-2.0 liter turbocharged vehicles
*4: Class for over-2.5 liter vehicles (For vehicles with a turbocharger, the displacement is calculated as x 1.7)
*5: Class for manufacturer-developed racing vehicles and racing vehicles not belonging to any other category approved by Super Taikyu Organization
*6: A human resources development initiative to raise driving and evaluation skills of Subaru engineers

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