Subaru storms back for new ARA rally season

Subaru doesn’t do conventional, U.S.-style motorsport, which is why you haven’t seen one on an oval track since the United States Auto Club approved a version of its flat-four engine for Midget competition. Instead, Subaru engages in motorsport that augments its own values of toughness and all-everything capability, which is why, like Audi, Subaru is very big into the wild outdoor motorsport of rallying. Subaru owns multiple global titles in the World Rally Championship, and closer to home, is planning a full assault on the American Rally Association’s eight-event schedule for 2024.

Extreme sports icon Travis Pastrana is back with the Subaru of America rally operation, along with Brandon Semenuk, who scored a perfect season in ARA competition during 2023. The rally cars are prepped for Subaru of America at the race car factory operated by Vermont SportsCar in Milton, Vermont, with sponsors ranging from Red Bull to Yokohama Tires to AT&T Business. The cars are hyper-performance versions of Subaru’s compact, rally bred WRX sedan. There’s likely no form of competition that’s tougher on production-based cars than all-out rallying on every kind of surface you can image, in both daylight and darkness. Subaru is very good at this.