Prodrive MINI WRC vehicle moves closer to reality

According to several sources, the much anticipated return of MINI to the international rally stage is edging ever closer.

While official representatives of MINI and Prodrive, the Banbury based vehicle and motorsport technology firm believed to be in cahoots with BMW in producing the Countryman based WRC car, remain tight lipped, the evidence suggests the pieces are falling into place for a 2011 rally debut for the reborn MINI.

On February 1st, Max Rally reported the MINI WRC car was in the works. The report was typically vague citing only “sources” with no direct quotes, other than from an evasive David Richards (Prodrive managing director) committing only to say that

It is still our intention to be in the WRC in 2011.

A couple of weeks later the story gained some momentum with Max Rally reporting that Norwegian driver Mads Ostberg was doing his utmost to be the driver behind the wheel of a MINI WRC car under the management of the Prodrive team.

According to the same article, last week representatives from BMW and MINI accompanied key Prodrive personnel on what was described as a fact finding mission to Rally Sweden which ran from 11th to 14th February this year.

More recently, RallyBuzz fleshed out the story, stating that testing is due to begin in the summer, and that along with as-yet unamed MINI representatives and David Richards, Prodrive technical director Dave Lapworth and ex-managing director of the Subaru WRT Richard Taylor met with controlling representatives of the World Rally Championship to discuss their plans to bring MINI to the WRC in 2011.

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3 Responses to “Prodrive MINI WRC vehicle moves closer to reality”

  1. AUSmotive.com » Rumour MINI WRC concept set for Geneva Motor Show debut says:
    February 20, 2010 at 12:15 pm

    [...] theSwitchback & MotoringFile | Pic: theSwitchback] var addthis_pub = ''; var addthis_brand = 'AUSmotive.com';var addthis_language = 'en';var [...]

  2. Stefan says:
    March 3, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    Definitely Looking Forward to seein a MINI in the WRC. Lets hope the street version is nearly as aggressive.

  3. AUSmotive.com » MINI and Prodrive ready to announce WRC entry says:
    July 19, 2010 at 10:48 pm

    [...] Autosport | Pic: theSwitchback] var addthis_pub = ''; var addthis_brand = 'AUSmotive.com';var addthis_language = 'en';var [...]

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