Adapta Rally Team has an exciting 2009 season in store. Prodrive have insured that they will put all the resources that the Norwegian rally team will need to perform the best possible season. We have had some very positive meetings with Prodrive, says team boss Morten Ostberg, after it became known that the Subaru World Rally Team withdrew from the World Rally Championship. We are not happy that the Subaru factory has ended its involvement in the rally world championship, but when it first happened, it has emerged that it opens the possibility for us, as we hoped, to have greater access with Prodrive.We get access to absolutely everything, and the latest equipment, and it is also being developed. Among other things, we get two Prodrive engineers. In addition to that we have employed a full-time engineer, Gerard De Jonghe, along with Graham Moore, who is chief engineer of Prodrive, and also had the role in the Subaru WRT, participate in our first and very important test, "said Morten Østberg, team manager for Adapta. There has been speculation that Prodrive will establish its own team, but what is completely resolved between Prodrive and Adapta that in this case is a collaboration between the two parties. So the situation now, is the Norwegian is with  Prodrive. It will be a total Adapta Prodrive-cooperation, says Østberg.

   
Prodrive and Adapta will together set up solutions for a good "camp" for all the world championship events where Mads and Adapta compete, so in time you will be able to see how large and visible team is. 
Several promoters have clearly indicated that Adapter and Prodrive are welcome In the service area along with the factory teams of Citroen and Ford, who are also the two teams we hope to challenge, "said Østberg. 
The second week of January sees the Adapta team start with testing for next year's WRC, the latest version of the Subaru S14. It will add up to three days in the new car.

  
We really look forward to start testing. We are confident that we will have the best car, especially with regard to the team Prodrive will send to Norway to assist us. It is still uncertain how many cars the Adapta World Rally Team will run next season. Like the situation right now is that it can be from one to four cars. The team has two S12B and two S14 available. However, it is definitely that Mads Østberg will be in one of the two-S14 cars in eight of the WRC events.

  
There are more experienced and high profile drivers appropriate for the team and they have signaled a strong desire to run with us. But there is no doubt that many drivers currently have great difficulty to get the budget. I can not give out with any names now. Many are working hard to get seats, and they must control the flow of information to the market, emphasizes Østberg.

  
One name that has been mentioned is Petter Solberg. We have the door open for him, and if some important conditions are in place we would have been positive and could work together as Prodrive have offered a very good arrangement for him. But Petter even stated that it is not appropriate, and it's not a big deal to put more energy into this from our side, "he adds.

    
Mads Østberg has big ambitions for Rally Norway, which will be his first WRC in 2009. The goal at home is to achieve the same level as he did in Wales - which in clear terms means that he wants to fight at the very top.
It is absolutely realistic. Mads will be competing on Rally Norway for the third time, and has repeatedly shown that he can fight with the best. For him to be best acquainted with the car, we have decided that Mads is going to run with the S14 in the first two Norwegian championship rounds. We still have a 2004-model "in stock". It may be for sale, but if it still is not sold throughout the season, we not exclude the possibility that Mads could contest other Norwegian championship events, explained the team boss.