Prodrive History
1984
David Richards Autosport, the business venture started by the former FIA World Rally Champion navigator together with Ian Parry, became Prodrive in 1984.
Saeed Al-Hajri win the very first event for the team, on the Qatar Rally, and would go on to take the inaugural FIA Middle East Rally Championship for the fledgling team, a feat the Qatari would repeat the following year.
1985
Prodrive entered the Pharaohs Rally, a rally-raid event, with a version of the twin-turbo Porsche 959 with Saeed Al-Hajri at the wheel. Porsche entered its own Weissach-built 959 with Jacky Ickx, but a stone went through its oil cooler on the first stage. Prodrive’s 959, went on to win. The 500bhp car did not have a single issue during the course of the event.
1986
Prodrive moves to the North Oxfordshire town of Banbury, becoming a landmark location alongside the M40.
Prodrive run Jimmy McRae, multiple British Rally Champion in a Group B, MG Metro 6R4. He wins the Ulster Rally, finishes fourth in the British Championship and eighth in the end of season RAC Rally. The brutally fast Group B cars are banned at the end of the year.
1987
Prodrive transforms the BMW M3 into a rally contender. France’s Bernard Béguin wins rallies in the French and European Championships and, convinchingly, the Tour de Corse in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). A rare WRC victory for a non-works team but the first of many for Prodrive.
BMW want to concentrate on the track in the UK. Frank Sytner, BMW dealer, meets with David Richards and the result is Prodrive’s first foray into circuit racing in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).
1988
The BMW Rally operation expands with wins in France by Bernard Béguin and François Chatriot, in Italy by Andrea Zanussi, and in Belgium with Patrick Snijers. He also wins the Belgian Rally Championship and an iconc Manx International Rally victory in the European Rally Championship.
Prepared alongside the rally cars, Sytner dominates Class B with class wins in 11 out of 12 rounds in his BMW M3 to take the overall title which is decided based on class placings.
1989
Frenchman François Chatriot wins five rounds of the French Rally Championship to take the title – the Rallye Alpin-Behra, the Rallye du Mont-Blanc, the Rally d’Antibes, Rallye National Jeanne d’Arc and the Rallye du Var. Winning the French Championship was a feat he would repeat the following season.
1990
Prodrive Advanced Technology is formed to take the best technology from Prodrive Motorsport and apply it to other market sectors. Since its formation it has become an important partner in its own right the automotive, aerospace, marine, and other sectors, bringing innovative ideas to market.
Prodrive begins a relationship with a vehicle manufacturer, known only by a few outside of its home country Japan for minivans and pick-up trucks, Subaru.
The Group A Legacy RS makes its competition debut in the 1990 Safari Rally before going to on to compete in more FIA World Rally Championship events throughout the year.
1991
1991 was Prodrive’s first rally title on home ground. 23-year-old Colin McRae drives a Subaru Legacy to victory in Yorkshire, Ireland, Scotland, and on the Isle of Man to become the youngest-ever British Rally Championship winner.
1992
McRae wins all six rounds of the British Rally Championship in a Subaru Legacy to claim the title, including the Ulster Rally by over 11 minutes and then pipping Tommi Mäkinen by two seconds to the the Welsh Rally.
McRae is entered in four rounds of the WRC. In Sweden, a puncture sees second place – an unprecedented result for a British driver.
1993
Colin McRae is promoted to the Subaru World Rally Team. McRae’s first top-level victory at Rally New Zealand is not only Subaru’s first WRC victory but the first by a British driver in a WRC round outside the UK.
The Subaru Impreza 555 makes its debut at the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland, with two cars driven by Markku Alén and Ari Vatanen, the latter finishing on the podium in second place.
New Zealand’s Peter ‘Possum’ Bourne wins the first of 2 successive Asia-Pacific Rally Championship titles. He wins in an Leagcy in 1993 and then again in the new Impreza in 1994.
1994
Prodrive wins the 1994 Motor Industry Association (MIA) Company of the Year Award.
Alongside Sainz and McRae, the campaign includes appearances by Possum Bourne and Richard Burns but the Prodrive-run Subaru World Rally Team finishes second in the manufacturers’ standings after a season-long battle with Toyota.
1995
Prodrive wins both the WRC titles for Manufacturers with Subaru and Drivers with Colin McRae, the first Briton to take the title. Every round of the championship was memorable, running double World Champion, Carlos Sainz alongside Colin McRae, but Colin wins in New Zealand and on the final RAC Rally, to finish ahead of Carlos in the championship.
To commemorate both driver and manufacturer titles, Prodrive produced a UK built run of limited edition Subaru Imprezas, the Series McRae. Limited to 200 cars, all were painted in Rally Blue mica and included unique Recaro seats, unique badges and numbered plaques on the centre console.
Prodrive contested the 1995 BTCC season with the Alfa Romeo Old Spice Racing team, finishing in eighth out of sixteen teams in the Team’s Championship. Derek Warwick, Gabriele Tarquini and Giampiero Simoni shared driving duties across the season.
1996
The Subaru World Rally Team wins the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers for the second consecutive season. Colin McRae wins the Acropolis, Sanremo and Catalunya rallies.
1997
With new co-driver Nicky Grist, McRae wins the Safari Rally followed by wins in France and then the final three rallies of the season, the Sanremo, the Australian and the RAC rallies. However, with six retirements McRae is beaten to the Drivers title by a single point by Tommi Mäkinen.
Subaru takes the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title for a third consecutive season, with Kenneth Eriksson winning in Sweden and New Zealand, and Piero Liatti in Monte Carlo. Eriksson also claims the Asia-Pacific Championship drivers’ title whilst helping Subaru secure the manufacturers’ crown.
Prodrive returns to the BTCC with Team Honda Sport. James Thompson finishes fifth in the Drivers’ Championship, whilst Honda comes third in the manufacturers’ table.
1998
Prodrive Advanced Technology first displays its Active Torque Dynamics (ATD™) innovation. Incorporating active electro-hydraulic centre and rear differentials to stabilise a vehicle.
It differs from similar stability systems which work by applying braking at each wheel. It monitors driver inputs, compares them with the vehicle using an electronic control unit, then controls torque via the differentials. The system reacts in less than 70 milliseconds, around a third of the time of other systems.
Team Honda Sport’s drivers have mixed fortunes. James Thompson wins multiple races and finishes third in the drivers’ championship. Teammate Peter Kox is hampered by bad luck, meaning the team finish fourth in the manufacturers’ standings.
1999
Prodrive partnered with Ford for the 1999 British Touring Car Championship, under the Team Mondeo banner, with Anthony Reid and Alain Menu as drivers. Menu scores Team Mondeo’s first win at Knockhill in Scotland and the team place sixth in the manufacturers’ standings.
2000
Prodrive-run Ford Mondeos take first, second and third positions in the BTCC after Prodrive bring engine development in-house. Alain Menu comes out ahead of Anthony Reid and Rickard Rydell respectively with the championship going to down to the penultimate lap of the last race.
2001
Richard Burns wins the drivers’ title in the WRC finishing just two points ahead of Colin McRae’s Ford Focus in a completely redeveloped Impreza. Petter Solberg joins the team, scoring a best result that year of second place at the Acropolis Rally.
Prodrive establishes a joint venture with Ford Australia, Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV), to re-engineer its road car range. The result was that FPV was regularly able to outsell its main rival, Holden Special Vehicles.
Frédéric Dor commisions Prodrive to develop the Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello and at only its second race in the FIA GT Championship, Rikard Rydell and Peter Kox dominate the opposition, putting the car on pole position and winning the race by 48 seconds.
2002
Despite missing six rounds, the Prodrive-developed Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello still places fifth in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GTS standings, competing in the 12 Hours of Sebring and then the final three races of the ALMS calendar.
2003
Prodrive wins a GT class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time with drivers Peter Kox, Tomáš Enge and Jamie Davies in the No.88 Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello.
Prodrive takes another FIA World Rally Championship drivers’ title in 2003, with Petter Solberg. A re-engineered Impreza, reflecting the facelifted road car, proves more successful and reliable, resulting in wins on four rounds in the hands of Solberg and four-times World Champion, Tommi Mäkinen.
After purchasing Glenn Seton Racing in late 2002, it is renamed Ford Performance Racing and becomes the first official Ford factory team in Australia since 1973. First season highlights include a Phillip Island win and a second-place finish at Bathurst. Craig Lowndes finishes the year fifth in the championship.
2004
Following David Richards’ arrival as Team Principal of the British American Racing (BAR) Formula 1 team in 2002, the team has undergone a transformation.
Jenson Button takes four second places and finishes third in the Drivers’ World Championship. Button and Takuma Sato score one pole position and 11 podium finishes, helping the team to second place in the Constructors’ Championship.
2005
After 18 months development, 2005 season was viewed as a learning year for the DBR9. Yet on debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring, drivers Darren Turner, David Brabham and Stéphane Ortelli defeat the Corvettes on their home ground to take the GT1-class win and fourth place overall.
2006
At launch, the Brand& supplies bespoke, branded clothing and accessories to front-running racing teams and road-car manufacturers. It would go on to add major clients inclduing football clubs and high profile sporting organisations.
Revealed in 2006 at the Autosport show in the UK, the P2 was a one-off prototype two-seater sports car created using the the skills an expertise of the wider Prodrive team to demonstrate how motorsport technology could be used in conventional automotive applications.
The P2’s engine is fitted with Prodrive’s Anti-Lag System (ALS) derived from the Impreza World Rally Car and also features Prodrive’s ATD™. The chassis was based on a modified Subaru R1 steel monocoque, with styling led by Peter Stevens.
2007
Third in the GT1 class in 2005, second in 2006 and now victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Prodrive with the Aston Martin DBR9 driven by David Brabham, Rickard Rydell and Darren Turner. Sister DBR9s also finish third and fourth in class.
2008
HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh tours Prodrive, viewing the Subaru World Rally Team’s preparations for Wales Rally GB and Aston Martin race cars being built. The Duke meets with employees, Petter Solberg, and Darren Turner. He is presented with a bespoke carbon-fibre shooting stick and carbon-fibre horse stirrups as a gift for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
David Brabham, Antonio García and Darren Turner bring the #009 Aston Martin Racing DBR9 home ahead of the Corvette C6.Rs for the second 24 Hours of Le Mans GT1 class win in a row.
2009
Against the might of Peugeot and Audi at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Aston Martin Racing Eastern Europe entry of Jan Charouz, Stefan Mücke and Tomáš Enge, achieve the most realistic target. After a trouble-free race they finish first of the petrol-engined LMP1 prototypes in fourth overall.
Charouz, Mücke and Enge not only win at Catalunya and Nürburgring, but finish every Le Mans Series race on the podium en route to claiming the LMP1 championship.
2010
2010 sees the first of three successive third places in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship for Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom in his Ford Falcon BA. The team would finish in fourth, second and second again between 2010 and 2012.
2011
Prodrive develop the 1.6-litre turbocharged MINI John Cooper Works WRC, based on the new MINI Countryman. Dani Sordo finishes third at Rallye Deutschland and second at Rallye de France to end the drivers’ championship in eighth. Kris Meeke finishes in 11th.
2012
Prodrive’s Advanced Technology team design the active aerodynamic system for McLaren’s P1 with an electro-hydraulic rear wing & electro-mechanical front flaps.
After delivering a fully functional prototype system in just 8 months, Prodrive commissions a bespoke manufacturing facility to deliver 375 production units.
2013
Prodrive help Land Rover to attract new, more discerning customers for its latest Range Rover. We design, engineer and produce a rear console unit, incorporating a chiller, motorised stowable tables, and environmental controls, all trimmed to match the customer’s bespoke cabin choices. Prodrive manage the whole programme in house, surpassing Land Rover’s stringent NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) standards.
2014
Aston Martin Racing gain another 24 Hours of Le Mans win, in the LMGTE Am class, with Danish trio of Nicki Thiim, Kristian Poulsen and David Heinemeier Hansson.
The #95 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE finishes first or second in every race in the season to deliver the World Endurance Championship team and drivers titles.
FAW-Volkswagen’s international driver, Chris Atkinson, wins the first two rallies, Rally China Longyou and the Wuyi Rally, for a Prodrive designed and developed 2-litre Golf. VW China gives the go-ahead for a full works programme.
2015
Atkinson wins four Chinese Rally Championship events outright, while local driver Chen Dean takes the national title. In 2016 the Australian would win win every single round. In 2017, Mark Higgins would win three out of five rounds as Li Guojing takes a second national title for the team.
2016
Subaru of America approached Prodrive to help set the fastest-ever lap by a car around the Isle of Man TT road course. The final attempt brings an average lap speed of 129mph. By comparison, that year Michael Dunlop breaks the motorcycle lap-record with an average of over 133mph.
2017
Sir Ben Ainslie Ainslie turns to Prodrive Advanced Technology to give his Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) team an innovative edge. Prodrive produces the control systems for the boat’s foils and sail, enabling it to rise out of the water and ‘fly’, and manufactures the electrical wiring harnesses to withstand the extreme, salt-water environment.
New Zealand’s Richie Stanway takes the record around the Nürburgring for a four-door car, setting a sub-seven-minute lap-time, using the same Subaru Impreza WRX Sti that took the Isle of Man TT record.
In possibly the closest and most exciting finish in Le Mans’ recent history, Aston Martin Racing takes a third outright GT class Le Mans win.
With Jonny Adam at the wheel of the Vantage GTE Pro, shared with Daniel Serra, and Darren Turner, the #97 presses and then passes rivals Corvette as they enter the very final lap of the race.
2018
From a clean sheet of paper, Prodrive creates the most technologically advanced rallycross car ever, the Renault Mégane RS for Guerlain Chicherit and his GC Kompetition team to compete in the in the FIA World Rallycross Championship.
Following the previous Isle of Man TT and Nürburgring outings, the Prodrive-prepared Subaru Impreza WRX STi, takes on the 52.3 miles and 624 turns of the Transfăgărășan Pass in Romania. Again with Mark Higgins at the wheel, he sets a blistering time of just under 41 minutes.
2019
Prodrive Composites pioneers the production of parts using natural, flax fibres as an alternative to carbon fibre. Prodrive uses it with customers for both visual parts on luxury SUVs and in folding bikes, as well as structural parts such as the rear wing and bodywork on Aston Martin’s Vantage GT racing cars.
2020
After Cambridge University research, Prodrive engineers work 7 days a week to rapidly evolve a production-ready design using widely available parts made of medically appropriate materials for use in Africa. The Open Ventilator System Initiative (OVSI) productionise and manufacture the design in South Africa. The project receives a Royal Academy of Engineering’s President’s Special Award.
Aston Martin records its best ever result at the Circuit de la Sarthe by winning both GT Pro and GTE Am classes and a third crew standing on the podium.
The result means that Aston Martin score enough points to secure the FIA World Endurance Championship manufacturers’ title with one round remaining.
2021
Prodrive takes on The Dakar Rally for the first time in an all-Prodrive-engineered car, the Hunter, with the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team. The Hunters are piloted by nine-time FIA World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb, and Dakar veteran, Spaniard Nani Roma. Roma finishes fifth – the best-ever position for a car on debut at the Dakar.
Seven-times FIA Formula 1 Drivers’ World Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton approaches Prodrive to run his Team X44 in the brand new Extreme E electric off-road series.
During the first season, with Cristina Gutiérrez sharing the driving duties with Sébastien Loeb, Team X44 are the fastest qualifier for each race, but won only once. The team finish runners up in the chanpionship.
2022
The Aston Martin Vantage GTE claims another victory as AMR partner team, TF Sport, conquer the GTE Am class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The NorthWest AMR team complete a strong weekend performance by finishing on the same class podium in third.
Team X44 triumph in Season 2 of the all-electric championship after a three-team battle for the title goes down to the last round in Uruguay.
After narrowly missing out at the end of Season 1, Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez finish on the podium four times in five races to claim the Extreme E championship.
Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin take second place for Bahrain Raid Xtreme at the Dakar Rally. A win at the Andalucía Rally, the final round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, secures the runners up spot in the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championships. Bahrain Raid Xtreme also finsh second in the manufacturers table.
Designed and engineered in collaboration with CALLUM Designs, the new Prodrive Racing Simulator blends traditional and modern materials together into a statement sculptural piece. The sculpted carbon monocoque housing floats beneath a canopy of layered beech with an elegant lacquered gloss black finish. The deliberate design form wraps over the driver to give an immersive experience similar to being in the cockpit of a race car.
2023
In 2023, Prodrive launches its first niche vehicle road car, the P25. A modern interpretation of the Subaru Impreza WRC97 with Peter Stevens revisiting his original styling and engineering overseen by Prodive’s Technical Director, David Lapworth. Only 25 cars are made.
Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin take a record six Dakar stage victories in a row, beating the record held by Ari Vatanen & Bruno Bergland during the 1989 Paris Dakar.
The BRX pair finish in second place overall again this year. Together with two stage wins for Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq, the sustainably fuelled Prodrive Hunter is the fastest car on nine of the fourteen stages.
2024
Forty-four personnel supporting seven Hunters across four teams, Bahrain Raid Xtreme, Nasser Racing By Prodrive, X Rally from Brazil and YunXiang from China, take on the 2024 Dakar Rally. Sébastien Loeb finishes on the podium again, whilst Cristian Baumgart of X Rally, and Zi Yungang of YunXiang complete the marathon journey too.
As part of a newly created Prodrive Lifestyle Collection, Prodrive launches an expansion to the Hummingbird bike range. Continuing to offer a range of lightweight folding bikes the products are aligned under the Prodrive name.
From helping engineer the original design, crafting carbon fibre and sustainable flax fibre frames, to the assembly of every model, every bike has always contained Prodrive DNA.
Prodrive Advanced Technology and Astheimer Design reveal EVOLV, an all-new compact and highly efficient ‘last mile’ electric demonstrator with a cubic load capacity rivalling mid-size vans, at Cenex Expo 2024.
Having drawn on their collective expertise to produce the first working demonstrator in just 12 months, together they found ELM Mobility, a new company aiming to put it into UK production in 2028.
