Knoxville, Tennessee -- Rally Promotions, L.L.C., the promoter of the NASA Rally Sport Eastern States Rally Championship (ESRC), announces class realignment for the 2004+ Subaru STi and Mitsubishi Evo VIII. Due to their phenomenal performance right off the showroom floor these two cars will compete in their own production-based class for 2005 called Super Stock 1. Any car eligible for Super Stock in 2004 will be realigned to Super Stock 2.

"We thought that this was the best solution to deal with 'technology creep,'" stated John Shirley, one of Rally Promotion's principals. "These cars are as close to homologated "specials" as we're going to get in America. Both the STi and the Evo VIII come right off the showroom floor with incredible performance and are fairly close to world-class rally cars." As with all turbocharged four-wheel drive rally cars a turbo inlet restrictor is mandated. In this case the international standard 32 mm turbo inlet restrictor will be the requirement. "With such import cars available to the public we felt it necessary to give these cars a class of their own. This allows the more mainline production cars a level playing field in Super Stock 2." he continued.

"We have a lot of competitors building these new super cars," stated Kendall Russell, another Rally Promotions principal and the ESRC championship coordinator. "Super Stock has proven to be a very popular class so we do not foresee any substantial impact on in-class competition by splitting the Evo and STi out. This keeps competition fair and preserves the investment of our grassroots teams in their cars."

While NASA Rally Sport has endorsed this class realignment for the ESRC, the sanctioning body is still evaluating if it will make this change for other regional events and the national championship.

For more information, contact Wilson von Kessler, (423) 265-2020, [email protected], or visit the ESRC website at http://www.nasarallysport.com/esrc/.