At next weekend's Automobiles sur les Champs sale, French auctioneer Artcurial will offer a pair of iconic rally cars.
The most successful of the pair is one of the first Impreza Group A cars built by Prodrive for the Subaru World Rally Team. The sophisticated Impreza replaced the Legacy during the 1993 season and the featured example was entered for Ari Vatanen at the model's debut during the 1000 Lakes Rally. Vatanen lead at one point and eventually finished second in 93-004 to score the Impreza's very first World Rally Championship points. Also raced by Colin McRae and Richard Burns, it would later be driven to three Australian Rally Championships by Possum Bourne. Now restored to its original configuration, it really is the Impreza that started it all and accordingly should sell for over €500,000.
Nowhere near as successful and legendary for all the wrong reasons is the Citroën BX 4TC. Raced at three events in 1986, this Group B machine was underpowered and too heavy to compete with the likes of Peugeot and Lancia. To wipe the embarrassing chapter from their history, the French manufacturer tried to buy back as many of the road cars as they could and had them destroyed. As a result, the BX4 TC is now very rare and ironically actually quite sought after. The consigned example is one of 20 'Evolution' rally cars built and is understood to be one of between four and seven of competition cars known to have survived. Just how sought after the BX 4TC is, is reflected by the €250,000 - €350,000 estimate.

Enjoy the links:

1986 Citroën BX 4TC Evolution

1993 - 1996 Subaru Impreza Group A

2021 Artcurial Automobiles Sur les Champs Sale