Although Subaru intended to provide the Minardi team with the engine, they instead opted to partner Minardi's Italian rivals, Coloni, for the 1990 season, even purchasing half of the team. The Coloni C3, which had been used the previous season, was extensively modified into the "C3B" specification to be suitable for use with the "Subaru 1235", and Bertrand Gachot was hired to drive it. The engine made its début at the 1990 United States Grand Prix, but it was not a happy one; Gachot finished dead-last in pre-qualifying, having been unable to even complete a single lap before a gear-linkage failure. Things would not improve for the Coloni team, as the Subaru engine proved to be fragile as well as underpowered, and its bulk also meant that the C3B's handling was unpredictable. Following a falling-out between Coloni, his team and Subaru, the Japanese firm opted to end their involvement after the 1990 British Grand Prix, just eight races after the engine had made its début, and without the C3B pre-qualifying once. The Coloni team promptly reverted to the Cosworth DFR in their updated C3C model, but, although they were often able to pre-qualify with this package, they never qualified for a race again and folded at the end of the 1991 season.