Subaru tackles the British Touring Car Championship with a hot-rodded Levorg wagon

By Ronan Glon January 18, 2016

Subaru Levorg BTCC rendering — Autocar magazine

Subaru has won countless rally events over the past couple of decades. The Japanese car maker is out to prove it can win on the track, too, by sponsoring Team BMR’s Levorg station wagon in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).

The BTCC-bound Levorg will be powered by a turbocharged and direct-injected, 2.0-liter, flat-four engine. Subaru hasn’t revealed precisely how much power the mill will pump out, but BTCC regulations dictate that it must generate at least 300 horsepower. While the street-legal Levorg is exclusively offered with Subaru’s time-tested all-wheel drive system, the two modified examples that will compete in the BTCC will need to hit the track with rear-wheel drive in order to comply with the race series’ regulations.

A sketch published by British magazine Autocar sheds insight into what the Levorg touring car will look like. Notably, the wagon will gain a deeper front bumper with a splitter, center-locking wheels tucked under wide fender flares, and a roof-mounted wing added to create downforce. Pictures of the cabin aren’t available yet, but it’s safe to assume the wagon will boast a stripped-out cabin with a bucket seat for the driver, a digital information display mounted behind the three-spoke steering wheel, and a full roll cage.

The Levorg will be the only station wagon in the BTCC series, and Team BMR explains it was chosen because it’s the newest addition to the Subaru lineup. The team is no stranger to racing with odd, unexpected cars; last season, it campaigned a front-wheel drive Volkswagen CC.

Team BMR’s Subaru Levorg will be fully unveiled in the coming weeks, and it’s scheduled to make its competition debut at the Donington Park track in England on March 22. To earn Subaru’s first-ever BTCC win, it will have to beat an eclectic array of winged and flared-out competitors including a BMW 1 Series, a Honda Civic Type R, a Mercedes-Benz A-Class, and even a Chevrolet Cruze.

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Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…

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