The events of 1994 had made clear that Subaru was a competitive force and that Colin McRae was a driver to beat.
The Repsol and Prodrive agreements were renewed, with two drivers competing to be top dog in the team. The first battle of the year came at Monte Carlo, where Sainz took victory. It was a calculated win taken in flawless fashion, whilst McRae, Auriol and the like went off-course early and Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Makinen and Bruno Thiry experienced tyre and mechanical issues.
Only Sainz and François Delecour seemed capable of winning the attractive Turini night stage, which would decide the victory of the 63rd Monte Carlo Rally. Sainz was again the better of the two, taking a perfect start to the campaign.
The brilliant beginning was interrupted by a catastrophe in Sweden. Sainz and Luis Moya were competing there for the first time, on a tricky snow and ice-covered route. They were, nevertheless, doing well up until a mechanical issue owing to the cold knocked out the three Subaru drivers (Sainz, McRae and Jonsson).
The Portugal Rally was the return to form for Sainz and Subaru-Repsol. In the first stage the Spaniard was 6 seconds quicker than Kankkunen, then in the second the places were reversed.
The victory would be contested in the sierras of Arganil, and it was there that Sainz pile don the pressure. Kankkunen made a mistake, and Sainz took his second win of the campaign.
The Subaru Impreza proved insufficient for the Tour de Corsé, and the top three consisted of Auriol, Bruno Thiry and Andrea Aghini on the podium with Sainz in fourth.
What happened from the Corsica Rally onwards deserves a separate chapter in the career of Carlos Sainz. He suffered a serious shoulder injury in a cycling accident, which took him out of action temporarily.
The championship had Colin McRae winning in New Zealand and taking second in Australia whilst Sainz was on the recovery trail, and in the latter event the Subaru’s radiator broke to leave the Spaniard out of the points.
At the end of the campaign there was still plenty of excitement. The first act came in Catalonia, where McRae was the standout but would lose to Sainz. Then Toyota were excluded for anomalies in their turbo, leading to their points being scrubbed out. That left Sainz and McRae pitted against one another for the chance to become World Champion at the RAC Rally.
The backing given to McRae in 1994 appeared to be repeated a year later, and there was an imbalance in the performance levels of the two Subaru vehicles. McRae was crowned champion, with Sainz second and Repsol once again providing the title-winning fuel and oil.
