For many years the Subaru Technica International team has been the only factory backed racing effort to compete in Japan’s most prestigious form of motorsport when it would team up with the aftermarket parts manufacturer Cusco to campaign an entry into what used to be called the Japanese Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC. The rules are simple, you need to use the firewall from the factory car, an engine from the manufacturer and that is about it. The race is run similar to an American Le Mans Series race, the competition is broken down into two categories, the bigger GT500 cars are limited to 500 HP while the smaller GT300 class competitors are limited to you guessed it, 300 HP, but they also get to run a few less laps.

Subaru has decided to not only pull the Impreza out of World Rally Championship competition but Super GT as well. At least in this case the Japanese automaker is going to offer a substitution. This Legacy->ke1402 based GT300 racecar looks like a Mercedes Benz DTM car with its wide arches and bright silver paint reflecting the sun during the shakedown run at Fuji Speedway. This is also an advanced look at what the redesigned 2010 Lagacy is going to look like before Frankfurt. The Legacy continues the automaker’s tradition of entering an all wheel drive into the championship, a proving factor for their drivetrain.

Perhaps with this blow, Subaru is only distanceing themselves from their once infamous boy racer image with box fendered and wild winged WRXs being replaced by much more civilized and muscular sport sedans, perhaps next year they will have a WRC Outback.

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