We would like to share a short story about a very special car driven by an even more special driver. This article is about the Subaru Impreza N11, a former Group N car that fights for victories in the Estonian EMV5 class and can even intervene in the battle for the top positions in the overall standings. To achieve this in a rally field full of factory Rally2/R5 cars, you need a special driver. Someone like Urmo Aava.
Urmo Aava has a long history in the Estonian and World Rally Championship. The highlights were in 2007 and 2008, when the Estonian competed in the JWRC and WRC. In the 2007 World Rally Championship, Urmo completed 4 events with the Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 05, followed by a 2008 season in which the Estonian drove 10 WRC rallies with the Citroen C4 WRC, managing clinching 5 stage wins. After that, there was a break of more than 10 years, during which Urmo had his hands and head full with the successful organization of the ERC and later the WRC Rally Estonia. In 2022, Urmo started rallying again as Course car, followed by the 2023/2024 season at the wheel of a Subaru Impreza N11 in selected events of the Estonian Rally Championship.
Urmo made his debut in this car two years ago at the Saaremaa Rally, at that time, the car already had a sequential Samsonas gearbox. In those two years, Urmo had no technical problems with the gearbox, but there was room for improvement. This Subaru had a gearbox with quite long ratios and the car could even go 230 km/h, but of course, there are not many places on the rally stages where you can reach such a ridiculous speed. Of course, it was difficult for the Group N engine to cope with such long ratios. The problem was solved quite simply just before this year’s Rally Saaremaa. The gearbox was sent to Samsonas Motorsport’s headquarters in Utena, where it was completely rebuilt. The gearbox was soon reassembled with new, shorter gears and sent back to Urmo.
This Subaru Impreza dates back to 2004 and was originally a Prodrive Group N car. Now it has a modified suspension with original Group N era dampers, a sequential 6-speed gearbox from Samsonas Motorsport and a Group N engine with 34mm restrictor that meets national technical requirements. It’s a very light car with good wiring with Motec control systems, pedal box, decent braking system. So it is a good working Subaru.
At the Saaremaa Rally 2024, Urmo Aava competed with his Subaru Impreza in the EMV5 class with more than 20 competitors with other Subaru Impreza or Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution cars, many of which also use Samsona’s parts. Behind the wheel of the really well-made Subaru Impreza Urmo, Aava managed to win 8 out of 9 special stages in the EMV5 class and claimed a dominant victory with a lead of over two minutes. He also finished in the top 10 in the overall standings.
