Ex-WRC Subaru Impreza daily driver

If Porsche’s 911 GT3 tells us one thing it’s people love ‘racecars for the road’.

But if there’s anyone who can truly deliver on that trope, it’s not so much a car company as it is one person. And his name is Junya Matsushita.

The Japan-native’s gained small fame on his social media channels within the Subaru community and for good reason. His daily driven Impreza once terrorised stages in the WRC.

That’s right. In his garage lies a Prodrive-built rally weapon complete with a competition roll-cage, huge brakes, and tricky suspension. And he wheels it out onto public roads with regular cars.

Sensibly, it doesn’t feature ear-splitting anti-lag and a choofing wastegate. It instead harbours the 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo drivetrain stolen from Subaru’s limited edition WRX STI S204.

From everywhere else, however, it looks real as the time it raced Rally New Zealand in 1998. Minus a few stickers, those pumped guards, smoothed-off side-mirrors, and tarmac-spec wheels hint this is the 22B’s genetic forefather.

Colin McRae may not have been its original pilot, teammate Juha Kangas drove it at New Zealand, but the car shares the same specification. It even has the original pedal box.

Of course, it took more effort to register than find. Junya wanted to upgrade from his WRX STI 22B. After selling his own 22B he bought this WRC Impreza, registration R30/chassis #31, which dabbled in European rallying until 2010.

Building and registering it for local Japanese roads took over four years. And while it might not wield the rally car’s 222kW and 480Nm boxer, its road-refined 235kW and 432Nm in a stripped-out racer should feel ample enough.

Plus, Junya can trundle down to the shops without worry of stalling it, which he does on a regular basis, with the option of tearing up his local touge.

Check out Junya’s Instagram page, or Facebook for more.