TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT

[dimviii]

Still the Impreza has better weight distribution since the gearbox is further to the rear not both at the front as non symmetrical cars like the Evo.

"04 Impreza 58.2/41.8 versus 60.7/39.3 for the Evo 8"

there is no rule that a car with better weight distribution is faster/better than a car with worse weight distribution.
Yes it helps,but there are plenty of other parameters that counts more.
for example see evo vs sti.Bone stock both,evo is faster with worse weight distribution.