Put on show at the recent Paris Motor Show, this colourful Mini surely looked its best and seemed to be ready for action whenever it is needed. Well, using a motor show to unveil their racing model would surely be a nice place to start considering that they did put out the Scooter E Concept as well.
They have confirmed that the Mini WRC will be going into the race with Kris Meeke as one of their drivers who will be behind the wheels of the 1.6 liter, 4 cylinder Di-turbo engine which was given an extensive test recently at the Prodrive track. This model was first developed back in 2009 and according to Ian Robertson, a member of the Management Board of BMW AG in charge of sales and marketing, they are confident with their chances in the WRC after their very positive response so far.
As a start, Mini has confirmed that they will be racing in t6 of the 13 rounds before making a full fledge participation in the nest season. With their experience in racing which saw the Mini Cooper S becoming a major model in the Rally Monte Carlo as well as in the European Rally championship, it would all come in handy when they step it up onto the world stage.
According to David Richards, the founder of Prodrive, the partner of Mini’s participation, 2011 will be the year to help them springboard onto the next season. It will also be used to gain the experience before they go full fledge. The Countryman is the latest model to come out from Mini and comes with an all-wheel drive system that comes with a 184 horsepower engine. The stock version gets you from zero to hundred in 7.6 seconds and the beefed up WRC model will surely be faster than that. So gentlemen, start your engines and let’s hear it roar.
