Rally GB, the ninth and final event in the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship (P-WRC) was held from November 11-14, based in the capital of Wales, Cardiff. Title hopeful, Sweden’s Patrik Flodin had a change in fortune to finish fifth, and ended the season second in the championship.

As has happened on many occasions, Rally GB was the final event on the WRC calendar. Following the ceremonial start on the evening of November 11, the rally consisted of 20 stages and 359.44 kilometres of racing. Apart from Flodin, other Subaru entrants included Toshi Arai (Japan), Gianluca Linari (Italy), Rui Wang (China), Anders Grondal (Norway) and Spyros Pavlides (Cyprus). Two wildcard entrants were provided by the host country’s ASN, 20-year-old David Weston Jr. (Great Britain) and Jason Pritchard (Great Britain).

Flodin, who needed to win the event to claim the championship title, took successive stage wins in the opening six stages of the rally, building up a lead of 1 minute 17 seconds in front of the second-placed runner. However on SS7, the final stage of Day One, he hit a small rock with the front of his car and damaged the steering, causing him to finish the leg in third place. On Day Two Flodin got within 23 seconds of the leader before a front tyre puncture on SS15 and suspension damage forced his retirement. Flodin restarted on Day Three in sixth position, and after a total of 15 stage wins, the most on this rally, went on to finish in fifth place. Jason Pritchard was the highest placed Subaru driver in fourth.

Japan’s Toshi Arai was forced to retire on the first day with drive-train trouble. He restarted later on and finished the rally in ninth place.