Subaru's Rebelle-Winning Forester Hybrid Returns With a Lift, 30-Inch Tires and a Locker
Carey Lando and Andrea Shaffer will defend their X-Cross title in the same 2025 Forester Hybrid, now rebuilt with more lift and hardware than any Forester Subaru sells.
The Subaru that won last year's Rebelle Rally X-Cross class is coming back with a much harder edge. Carey Lando and Andrea Shaffer will defend their title as Team 200 in the same 2025 Forester Hybrid, which now rides on a 3-inch lift, 30-inch all-terrain tires, and a TORQ locker.
That puts it well beyond anything in a Subaru showroom. The regular Forester Hybrid leaves the factory with 8.7 inches of ground clearance. Even the new 2027 Forester Wilderness Hybrid, the first electrified model in Subaru's off-road sub-brand, tops out at 9.3 inches.
The 2025 car was a mild build by comparison. According to Subaru's announcement last October, it carried an STI strut tower brace, RaceWorks coilovers, and RalliTEK adjustable rear arms. For 2026, the coilovers and arms stay, and the hardware list grows:
- Milestar Patagonia A/T Pro tires, 30 inches tall
- Underbody armor from Anderson Design & Fabrication
- A TORQ locker (Subaru hasn't said which axle it's on)
- Diode Dynamics auxiliary lights and recovery gear
Subaru hasn't listed any changes to the hybrid powertrain. Between rallies, the team says the SUV has run Hell's Revenge in Moab and Colorado's Black Bear and Imogene passes.
Two titles, two different Subarus
Lando and Shaffer's back-to-back X-Cross wins came in very different cars. Their 2024 title came in Lando's personal 2014 Outback. In 2025, they switched to the Forester Hybrid and won each of the first five scored stages, according to the rally's final results. The overall win went to Nena Barlow and Teralin Petereit in a Jeep Gladiator in the 4x4 class.
Raw pace doesn't decide the Rebelle. Crews cover more than 1,500 miles of desert with paper maps, a compass, and roadbooks, and phones and GPS are banned. Points come from finding checkpoints accurately. Lando frames the hybrid as the point of the exercise: "We want to show that a hybrid can do hard things too."
That approach contrasts with Honda, which is running its Passport TrailSport bone stock this year to validate production hardware. Subaru's entry is closer to a showcase of what the aftermarket can do with a compact hybrid crossover. That segment is usually judged on fuel economy, as in how the CR-V Hybrid and RAV4 Hybrid compare, not on trail credentials.
The car also wears a new livery. B. Stubbs Vinyl & Graphix designed it with Lando, mixing her long-running MtnSubi Outback graphics with Subaru's stage-rally colors. Team 200 is racing for The Bluebird Fund, a nonprofit that funds safety, development, and participation grants in motorsport, including programs for women.
Subaru says the rally runs Oct. 7–17. Last year the brand fielded a second team, Emme Hall and Kendra Miller in a Crosstrek Wilderness, but this year's announcement covers only Team 200.
