Subaru: No rush to sign Loeb - or anyone else.

by Rob Wilkins.

Subaru team principal, David Lapworth has confirmed that the Banbury-based team is by no means 'desperate to rush' and sign another top driver - despite the fact that star drivers Sebastien Loeb, Marcus Gronholm and Markko Martin are all potentially free agents in 2006.

Lapworth told Crash.net Radio that while they were 'of course interested' in them, it was still 'early days' - seemingly indicating that, for the time being, the team are content to sit back and see how things develop.

"We are actually happy with the line-up we have got at the moment," he continued, "We are not in a desperate rush to go out there and get another top, top driver. That would be relatively easy for us to do, because I guess ourselves and Ford would probably be the first choices of those top drivers who are on the market next year.

"But the manufacturers' championship isn't our primary objective. Petter would be our first choice of driver if we were to have one to go for drivers' championship and he is already lined up for the team for next year. We are very happy with the sort of young driver development programme we have too - and we have got two of the best candidates in there.

"So we are not in any rush, but you never know what is going to happen later on in the year. When it is all clear what Citroen and Peugeot are up to, and when it is clear what Ford's strategy is and what Mitsubishi and Skoda are up to and so on, when it all starts to fall into place, then maybe we can show our hand or decide what to do."

Pressed on recent reports in Autosport that Ford boss Malcolm Wilson had expressed an interest in reigning champion Loeb, Lapworth added that that was only natural.

"I think Sebastien will keep something back until he knows what Citroen are up to," he concluded, "I think that may be the first clue to what Citroen's long term plans are, when Sebastien shows his hand."