OREANDA-NEWS. December 16, 2011. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the manufacturer of Subaru automobiles, announced its establishment of the "2012 SUBARU Challenge Award" which will be executed by its subsidiary Subaru Tecnica International Inc. (STI; Hiroyuki Karamatsu, President) who manages all of FHI’s motorsports activities. The purpose of the award is to support participants driving the Subaru Impreza WRX STI in FIA Production Car World Rally Championship (PWRC) during the 2012 season.

"2012 SUBARU Challenge Award" will be awarded, along with prize money, to drivers who finish within the top three in each of the 2012 PWRC rallies and in the overall 2012 PWRC season. This is the second year this award system will be put into effect, the first was 2011.

Group N cars are extremely limited in terms of modifications allowed to be made on standard production models. This means, in the Group N category, the capabilities of the base vehicle are of crucial importance. Since the races are run by cars almost identical to production models, this motorsports class has gained popularity as one in which even beginners can enter. The most well-known competitions of this category include Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) and FIA Production Car World Rally Championship (PWRC).

Qualifying rallies: All 8 rounds of the 2012 PWRC
 Round 1: Monte-Carlo (January 17 - 22), Round 2: Mexico (March 8 - 11), Round 3: Argentina (April 27 – 29),
 Round 4: Greece (May 25 – 27), Round 5: New Zealand (June 22 - 24), Round 6: Germany (August 24 – 26),
 Round 7: Italy (October 18 – 21), Round 8: Spain (November 8 - 11)

Eligible drivers
 Drivers who have registered with the PWRC for the year and guest entrants nominated by the organizer are eligible; however, drivers participating in regional and/or domestic championships held at the same times as the PWRC races are ineligible.

Eligible cars
 Group N homologated Subaru Impreza WRX STI (models which conform to 2012 FIA Group N regulations are GRB and GVB).