The 2010 Production car World Rally Championship visited the Southern Hemisphere and New Zealand for Round 4 of the series, drivers Toshi Arai, Gianluca Linari and Wang Rui flying the flag for SUBARU. They were joined by local guest drivers Richard Mason and Emma Gilmour.

Toshi Arai was the best SUBARU-equipped finisher among the regular P-WRC entrants, netting seven stage wins on his way to fourth place overall. Linari finished one position back, while Chinese driver Wang Rui retired.

Mason started out leading the event, winning the first three stages on Day One. Disaster struck on SS6 however, the New Zealander crashing out of the event. Emma Gilmour meanwhile, ran a resilient race throughout the three days, eventually finishing second in P-WRC.

Toshi Arai’s opening day in New Zealand wasn’t a happy one. A small mistake on SS3 led to a bent rear suspension arm, causing a delay. Later in the day he lost all power and had to retire, leaving him in ninth place in the P-WRC. Arai was back on Day Two, putting in a typically strong performance and gaining four stage wins on his way to sixth place. The final leg saw more of the same from Toshi, the Japanese winning SS18-20 in his successful attempt to eclipse fellow SUBARU runner Gianluca Linari. With the demise of Wang Rui on the final stage, Arai scored 12 championship points with fourth place.

STI Group N Project General Manager George Donaldson:
“On Rally New Zealand a ten second loss is like a minute on most other rallies! Here lies the reason perhaps for the loss of one of our two top contenders, Richard Mason from this year’s NZ rally. It’s always extra disappointing when we are event favourites and we have calamities - but that’s motorsport. Toshi’s exit from the leading pack of P-WRC drivers was even more innocuous, taking extra care over a slow bridge on SS3 he simply clipped the edge and somehow this resulted in a broken cross-member. He then put in a fantastic drive on Day Two and Day Three and hauled himself back up to 4th place thereby salvaging a points finish - which keeps him in the running for the 2010 PWRC crown.