Eugene tests an S12 Impreza

[hyundaimike]

gareth jones is after buying gareth mchales 05 focus. my cousin was talkin to mchale at rally GB and that came from the horses mouth

[WelshLegend]

so it is the end of the legendary corolla then

[MadCat]

Read in Motorsport News today that Donnellys new car will be on the Kumho Stand at the Autosport Show Cant wait to see it!

[quicksilver]

Pic of Donnelly's new car
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9...elly555gg6.jpg

[Halfshaft]

so it is the end of the legendary corolla then

Another N. Irish driver has reportedly bought the Corolla K-AM-651. We will just have to wait and see who.

[quicksilver]

Another pic of the car
http://rally.ie/downloads/070110_231..._S12_Small.JPG

[WelshLegend]

What i don't understand is that the S12 was not competitive in 2006 at the hands of a works team, so why has Donnely bought this car? Wouldn't a Xsara WRC of done untill he could get his hands on a C4 WRC. My guess is that he wont win the Irist tarmac championship this year.

[pauldrew]

What i don't understand is that the S12 was not competitive in 2006 at the hands of a works team, so why has Donnely bought this car? Wouldn't a Xsara WRC of done untill he could get his hands on a C4 WRC. My guess is that he wont win the Irist tarmac championship this year.

It may have been uncompetitive at WRC level, but national rallying is totally different. Hyundais were never really that competitive when they were doing the WRC several years ago, yet they are still winning today at a national level in the UK.

When Eugene used an S11 on the donnegal harvest rally in october he was setting times through the stages a fair bit quicker than he previously has in his corolla (in pretty much the same weather conditions). After testing the S12 he's said that this is even quicker - prodrive arent going to make a new car slower than the previous model.

Plus he's a clever bloke and knows what he's doing, so i'm sure he'll have a really good run again this year.

[cut the b.s.]

He will certainly be quick enough, it was the reliablity of the Corolla that helped him to so much success, not sure he will get it from an S12 but the support Prodrive are meant giving this year, who put in his position could say no to it?

[Tomski]

After testing the S12 he's said that this is even quicker - prodrive arent going to make a new car slower than the previous model.

Ask Petter for his view on that..........................