Filed under:
Motorsports,
Crossover,
Mini,
Racing
There was a fair bit of hullabaloo two years ago when
Mini announced a return to the
World Rally Championship for this season, but the road to making that happen has been as rocky as a gravel stage. It spent 2011 developing its
JCW Countryman WRC challenger, changing its mind about how it
wanted to work with Prodrive,
dumped a driver due to budget issues, then registering its entry
after the deadline had passed in a ploy that might or
might not have been a protest aimed at the WRC promoter.
Mini had stated that it wanted to win the whole championship in 2013, and spent 2011 doing six WRC rounds as development. As it stands for this year, the
WRC Team Mini Portugal - paid for by Mini, run by ProDrive - scored 26 points in the first rally at Monte Carlo and has so far blanked the rest of the season. The relationship between Mini and ProDrive appeared to be an ever-contentious affair, at the end of this season, even the money will dry up along with what support there was.
Because it contested every race in the calendar, though, Mini says it has completed the FIA requirements for homologation of the JCW Countryman WRC; meaning that privateers can continue purchasing the car and run it in the WRC. BMW Motorsport is continuing development and parts supply of the 1.6-liter turbo engine, and a report in
Autosport indicates that ProDrive
will continue to run Minis in the series next year.
The press release
below has more info on the whys and wherefores.
Continue reading Mini exiting WRC after just one year
Mini exiting WRC after just one year originally appeared on
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Official: Mini exiting WRC after just one year
