A bit late in delivering this news, but here it is anyway: BMW-owned Mini have confirmed they will be entering the World Rally Championship with a car based on their new Countryman model.
The car will be built and run by Prodrive in Banbury, who won multiple world championships during a long association with Subaru, and will use a BMW-derived 1.6 litre turbocharged engine. It is expected to debut on selected events in 2011 before committing to the full championship from 2012 onwards.
http://www.prodrive.com/p_releases.html?id=279
The original Mini Cooper was developed by BMC competitions department into a successful rally machine, famously winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965 and 1967. Ironically, the ACM have recently confirmed that the Monte will again run as a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, and not the WRC, in 2011, for the third year in succession.
Meanwhile in Finland the latest round of this year's championship is underway. Local hero Mikko Hirvonen had established a commanding lead in his Ford over the first three stages but crashed heavily over a jump in stage four and has been forced to stop. This has left Norway's Petter Solberg at the head of the field, though with less than ten seconds covering the top five positions it is all incredibly close. 51-year old former quadruple champion Juha Kankkunen is making his first WRC start for six years in a Stobart-run Focus WRC, and after four stages Juha is in tenth position, one place behind countryman Kimi Raikkonen.
The car will be built and run by Prodrive in Banbury, who won multiple world championships during a long association with Subaru, and will use a BMW-derived 1.6 litre turbocharged engine. It is expected to debut on selected events in 2011 before committing to the full championship from 2012 onwards.
http://www.prodrive.com/p_releases.html?id=279
The original Mini Cooper was developed by BMC competitions department into a successful rally machine, famously winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965 and 1967. Ironically, the ACM have recently confirmed that the Monte will again run as a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, and not the WRC, in 2011, for the third year in succession.
Meanwhile in Finland the latest round of this year's championship is underway. Local hero Mikko Hirvonen had established a commanding lead in his Ford over the first three stages but crashed heavily over a jump in stage four and has been forced to stop. This has left Norway's Petter Solberg at the head of the field, though with less than ten seconds covering the top five positions it is all incredibly close. 51-year old former quadruple champion Juha Kankkunen is making his first WRC start for six years in a Stobart-run Focus WRC, and after four stages Juha is in tenth position, one place behind countryman Kimi Raikkonen.
