Richard Burns piloted the Impreza WRC2001 to a spectacular victory in the Rally New Zealand, round 10 of the 2001 World Rally Championship (WRC), held from September 21 to 23, 2001.

At the ceremonial start held on September 20, participants and spectators observed two minutes of silence out of respect for those involved in the previous week's terrorist attacks in the United States. In addition, all drivers of the Subaru World Rally Team competed wearing black armbands in memory of the victims of this tragedy.

Burns purposely finished in eighth place on the first day, and began mounting his all-out attack on the second day. He recorded the fastest times of the rally in six of the eight special stages, leaping into first place. On the third day, he waged an intense battle with Ford's Colin McRae to win the race by 41.9 seconds, giving Subaru its first victory of the 2001 season.

As for the other Subaru drivers, Peter Solberg achieved a seventh-place finish, contributing valuable points to the team, and Toshihiro Arai finished in fourteenth place, despite mechanical problems.

As a result, Subaru is 30 points behind Ford for the Manufacturers' Title and Burns trails Tommi Makinen of Mitsubishi for the Drivers' Title by only 9 points. Both titles are within reach as Subaru heads into the final four rallies of the season.