The “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” mantra is usually reserved for purpose-built machines that share little more than a badge with the car sitting in your driveway. But at the Sunraysia Safari Rally, Subaru is flipping the script, taking a gamble that’s as audacious as it is exciting: proving that showroom-adjacent machinery can conquer Australia’s longest, toughest rally. This isn’t just a race; it’s a high-stakes credibility test.
The “Off the Floor” Challenge
Arguably the star of the show is a WRX Challenge car, a vehicle that, for all intents and purposes, rolled off the showroom floor before receiving the necessary safety gear and rally modifications.
Alongside it, a Crosstrek is tackling the brutal terrain, utilising STI/GRB-family running gear. It’s a “family of parts” approach that Subaru is betting will hold up against dedicated, purpose-built buggies.
As Australian rally driver (and Subaru driver) Dean Herridge notes, the fact that they can even be competitive (let alone aim for a win) is a testament to the engineering DNA baked into these platforms.
As if to prove the point that the Sunraysia Safari Rally is a beast, it had already claimed the hopes of one Canon buggy, and that was just during testing. Rest assured, the terrain is as unforgiving as ever.
The Price is Right
Adding serious weight to this year’s effort is the arrival of off-road royalty, Toby Price. Fresh off a stint in the U.S., the Dakar legend is swapping two wheels for four, sliding into the driver’s seat of the aforementioned Subaru WRX Challenge car.
“Safari’s one I’ve always wanted to have on my bucket list,” Price admits. While he’s used to the high-speed navigation of Dakar, the transition to this specific rally setup, and the pressure of filling the shoes of former Australian champion Rob Herridge (yes Dean’s father) is a new challenge.
Price says that it’s a work in progress, with a few confused glances at junctions, but it’s all part of the “blind rally” experience. With no ‘recce’ intel to rely on, Both Herridge and Price are effectively leading the charge, cutting tracks in the sand for the rest of the field to follow.
More Than Just a Race
For the Subaru teams, this is about more than just a trophy. It’s about gathering data to feed back into their driver training centres. Every junction, every suspension adjustment, and every cooling check is being treated as a real-world stress test.
“The romantic factor,” as Dean Herridge puts it, is that both the drivers are tackling the same terrain, so they’ll be debriefing over lunch and the end of the day. It’s a continuous loop of performance and analysis, turning the rally into a mobile laboratory.
We joined them as the cars lined up for the start, and the atmosphere was electric. There’s a palpable sense of “we’ll see what happens” mixed with genuine confidence in the machinery.
Whether they dominate the sand or simply survive the brutality of the outback, one thing is clear: Subaru is putting its money where its mouth is. They aren’t just talking about capability; they’re out there in the dust, proving it. Stay tuned, this is going to be one hell of a ride.
