Virittäjät 5, Episode 8 - Sami Mäkäräinen, 1999 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-RA 555,

The Virittäjät ('Test Drive by Mika Salo') episode, where I compete against ex-Formula 1 driver, Mika Salo.
Naturally, with a near stock Impreza, there was no chance of ever winning the title of "Virittäjä" ('Tuner'), but at least I got to prove one thing: When set up right, a low power car can defeat a lot of +500hp cars that have appeared on the show.
This Impreza had a maximum output of 300hp.

Originally I was going to compete with my red Skyline R32 GT-R, which you can find videos of on my channel.
My rough estimates of the BNR32's laptimes on the Alastaro Circuit would have been around the 1:27:00-1:28:00 mark, with the 380hp tune.

The set up on the Skyline was quite similar to the Impreza's, only taking the difference of wheelbase length and tire size into consideration, when adjusting the suspension and wheel alignment.

The Impreza clocked in a 1:29:40 time in the skilled hands of Mika Salo. This only further confirmed my suspicion, that the Skyline could have lapped the track faster, by at least a whole second or two.

Prior to the filming of the episode, I had told both, Mika and the co-host Tomi Tuominen, that the Impreza will definitely lap a time under 1:30:00, most likely a time near the 1:29:00, beating the time of 1:29:88, set by the +450hp Mitsubishi Lancer EVO8, owned by Aki "Akinaattori" Salmela, which it did, by half a second!