RepsoAfter that, Repsol had to look for a new team, one offering solvency and sufficient technical guarantees to complete a full World Championship, that would mean being able to fight for the title.

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The market did not offer many possibilities, but a risk had to be taken.� The only gap seemed to be in Subaru, a Japanese manufacturer, which had been developing its rally cars through a company called Prodrive, based in Banbury (England) and run by a former rally co-pilot David Richards.

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Although Prodrive was already a reality, Subaru was a promise.� The Impreza 555 was a new car that had to be developed.� The Anglo-Saxon company soon saw that in Carlos Sainz they had their best chance to make the car competitive, and if they had a backing sponsor like Repsol, then all the better.

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94� was viewed confidently, and the aim was to go as far as possible.� The season began as usual with the Montecarlo Rally.� A first date which would almost be the Impreza�s first outing in the World Championship.� The car performed well, but the competition did better, and in theory �94 was the year for Fords or so it seemed with Delcour�s victory. Sainz and Subaru Impreza Repsol got to where they could, third place, which provided some interesting food for thought.

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In Portugal, the faults in the Impreza continued to emerge.� A marked lack of power, plus differentials that did not allow better traction, left Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya in fourth place, who after their absence in the Safari Rally, got off to a flying start in the Tour de Corse.

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By then the car had improved in all respects: engine, traction brakes; in short a car ready for a head-on battle for victory.

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With Delecour temporarily out of the World Championship after a road accident, the 1994 Tour de Corse was going to be a head-to-head between Didier Auriol and Carlos Sainz.� This was evident during the first and second laps, in which the Frenchman, although in the lead, never had sufficient advantage to take the rally in time.

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They had to wait for Calvi to come out, plus the long and difficult Notre Dame de la Serra section, to see Carlos Sainz�s start his great recovery over Didier Auriol in the last lap of the rally. A bid which he continued by making up the difference with the French driver, second by second, until reaching the Vico section where the Subaru�s front spoiler broke, losing what would have been the Subaru�s first victory at Sainz�s hands.

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A victory, which was going to come twenty days later in the Acropolis Rally, where everything ran smoothly this time, and Carlos Sainz, after a considerable period without a win, once again took up the rostrum, sharing the World Championship leader�s position ex aequo with Juha Kankkunen.

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In Argentina, we were going to witness one of the most impressive rallies of the season.� Nobody threw in the towel in the struggle for the title, which from this rally onwards would be practically contested between Carlos Sainz, Didier Auriol and Juha Kankkunen.

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There, in Argentina, Sainz did a sensational first lap that enabled him to hold a twenty second advantage over Didier Auriol. The Frenchman counterattacked on the second day of the rally, gaining five seconds on Sainz to run a third and final lap that would serve him well. If Sainz won one section, Auriol would win another, then it would start all over again. What a confrontation! Finally and owing to a problem with the Subaru�s tyres � Pirelli was then developing its EMI anti-puncture system -� the victory went to the Frenchman.

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Until then the �94 World Championship had been up in the air, and the new date in New Zealand was going to mean zero for Sainz, who had gained points in all the races in which he had participated so far.� In the Antipodes, the Spaniard�s Subaru fell victim to unusual damage, that had never before occurred to four-stroke boxer engines: a broken camshaft.� Athough abandoning the race affected his championship position, it was not overly serious taking into account Auriol�s bad classification and McRae�s triumph.

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The 1000 Lake Rally that followed would go down in history, due to the confrontation between the three drivers contending for the title: Auriol, Sainz and Kankkunen.� Out of the three, the Finn did well at the start of the rally and Auriol and Sainz in no way matched the driver who was already more than just promising: Tommi Makinen, the undisputed winner of 1000 Lagos.

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After the Finnish race, the rally world championship was as yet undecided. There was still San Remo and the RAC in England to go.� At the Italian date, errors both in the definition of the weight of the differentials and in the choice of gear changes, served Sainz badly.� Athough he managed to contain Auriol, with an advantage in the first and second laps, there was nothing the Toyota driver could do in the third, the distances were gradually reduced until the former won, placing him in an unbeatable position for the title to be contested in England.

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There, in a difficult rally, nothing would initially work out as planned.� Carlos Sainz needed to win and Auriol to rank up among the top four in the final classification. Both had problems in the �micky mouse� phase, and Auriol subsequently overturned in the second lap sinking him in the classification.

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However, in the Subaru team, the �problems� came from within the actual team.� There was a lot of pressure on for a Scot, a Brit, one of Her Majesty�s drivers, to win in an English rally, something which had not happened since 1976 when Roger Clark claimed victory

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Carlos Sainz needed the team�s help, security he could rely on with the help of McRae, and if at all possible, penalization of the Scot for Sainz to remain ahead.

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However, the promises were always insincere.� The uncertainty and feeling that the entire team was backing Colin and his victory, made Sainz more than a little uneasy and affected his concentration at such a tense moment. So much so that the fateful slip came in one of the final sections, aggravated by some unforeseen trunks lying across the middle of the section, that caused the Spaniard to veer off the track, leaving behind what would have been his third world title.

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