Four-time World Rally Champion Tommi Mäkinen, together with double Finnish Rally Champion and current Production World Rally Cars Championship leader and Subaru Dealer Team Finland driver Jari Ketomaa, conducted a five-day developement test session in the rough conditions of the Romanian countryside.

Tommi Mäkinen tested on tarmac for two days and on rough gravel for another two days. Ketomaa finished the job with one rough gravel test day. Both were driving a Tommi Mäkinen Racing Group N Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 2008.

Tommi Mäkinen Racing focused its efforts on improving the engine, transmission and suspension of its group-N Subaru Impreza WRX STi. Assessing the reliability of the package in rough rally conditions was also a primary goal. Mäkinen and Ketomaa were very satisfied with the results of the developement tests.

"There are now very rough gravel rallies ahead in the World Rally Championship series. To develop our Group N Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2008, we needed to test in conditions similar to the rough events of the WRC. For example, Jari Ketomaa faces very rough conditions in WRC Greece. Therefore these tests served well for Ketomaa," explained Mäkinen.

"The long test week gave us exactly what we seeked for, as we could develop our car to be faster, stronger and especially reliable," he added.

"It was very fantastic to see how Tommi Mäkinen Racing and its four times World Rally Champion concentrated on the test work," said Ketomaa. "Even if Tommi has retired from his active career his know-how hasn't vanished at all."

"Reviewing the results of the five days of test sessions, I strongly believe that the Group N Subaru Impreza WRX STi of Tommi Mäkinen Racing is now more competitive on tarmac as well as on rough gravel," Jari Ketomaa concluded.