Article by Francisco La Torre/www.WorldRallySport.com
Ramana Lagemann has confirmed that he will contest the 2011 Rally America Championship in a Super Production-spec 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The ex-Subaru factory driver recently declared his intentions to return to SP class competition after his deal to run an Open class car did not materialize.
Lagemann’s first event of the year is this weekend’s Rally in the 100 Acre Wood, where he and co-driver Chrissie Beavis will begin their chase for a Super Production title that escaped them in 2010 by ten points after a short but successful season. Lagemann was originally scheduled to appear at Sno*Drift and compete in a Group N Mitsubishi Evo that had been imported from Ireland and converted into an Open class-spec car during the off-season, but a shortage in resources that would allow him to run a full-season campaign in this car prompted him to withdraw his entry and re-group.
Lagemann laments not being able to compete in Open class, but his decision to pass on Sno*Drift and explore his options resulted in a more feasible option for his rally effort. “We were excited about the prospects of running in Open class and it was a big bummer to have everything fall apart right before Sno*Drift. We thought it was very important to figure something out to come back and rally,” said Lagemann. “Subaru’s generous contingency program allowed my return. Keeping my options open and being in a new body-style Subaru made the most sense for me.”
The SP car Ramana will be running is a Vermont SportsCar-prepared 2008 Impreza that was originally built to a Group N specification and was later used by Ken Block as the infamous ‘Trax STI Snow Cat.’ This car is practically new with virtually no competitive miles on it. It was most recently driven by Joel Levac and Laurence-fanny L’Estage as a quasi-Open class car on Rallye Perce-Neige, the 2011 Canadian Championship opener, but has since been converted to SP-spec for Lagemann.
Lagemann took delivery of the vehicle just last Wednesday and had it tuned by Dent Sport Garage (DSG) on Thursday. Despite having no seat-time with the car, Lagemann feels confident he will quickly adapt and adjust to the feel of this well-sorted car on the opening loop of 100AW stages. Lagemann is all too familiar with jumping into unfamiliar cars on race day – he did so at the 2010 Olympus Rally in a less superior car, taking the SP class win and placing 5th overall following a two-year hiatus from competition.
Lagemann hopes to have similar success putting an SP car on the overall podium as he did last year, but recognizes it will be no easy feat with the increased level of competition. He said, “I’m happy to be in SP, it’s proven to be a competitive class and proven to be the class that allows good drivers to perform and showcase their abilities like Travis Hanson did at Sno*Drift. Frankly, if you finish on the overall podium in an SP car, I feel you’re going to get more press than if you finish third in an Open class car against two other Open class cars. On top of that you have the rally support program from Subaru, so really when you compound all those factors, this car and this class made the most sense for us.”
Fore further information, please visit: www.rally-america.com