Tuesday 7th February 2012

Mini WRC becomes 'works-supported'

BMW, Mini and Prodrive officially downgrade WRC participation

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Mini has managed to swing a continued presence in the WRC, despite the souring of its relationship with Prodrive and the official termination of its factory programme.

Instead, the cars will compete as a 'works-supported team' from now on under the Mini Team Portugal banner and run by Motorsport Italia.

The new Mini WRC colours

Driving the cars will be Armindo Araujo from Portugal and the Brazilian Paul Nobre. This of course means that rapid Irishman Kris Meeke is definitely out of a seat.

Prodrive will also continue to run a pair of cars and will be at this week's Rally Sweden with Patrick Sandell and Dani Sordo - fresh from an impressive second place in the Monte Carlo rally - at the wheel.

Mini is, of course, trying to put a positive spin on things. And there is some cause for cheer, as Prodrive will continue to build and support customer cars while continuing to develop the car for BMW. The car has also been guaranteed homologation until 2018.

"I am delighted that the future of Mini in the WRC has been secured on a long-term basis," says Dr Kay Segler, Mini's brand boss. “We remain convinced that the sport of rallying is perfectly suited to our brand. The situation we now find ourselves in means the Mini Motorsport family can, and will, continue to grow on the rally scene. With three podiums from just seven starts in the world championship, the Mini John Cooper Works WRC has already emphatically proven its potential.”

Three podiums from seven starts, in a not-fully-developed car? That sounds like proven potential. The question is whether a semi-private operation can ever realise that potential...

[PILCH 23]

More bad news for the WRC...

What a disaster this championship has become. It is such a shame as rallying could be the best motorsport in the world and could drive sales of cars globally. It has just been very badly run for years.

And as for BMW it is astoundingly short sighted when one considers how much money they have wasted on motorsport elsewhere with little benefit to sales or reputation.

[Munich]

Another poor show from BMW.

BMW seem to be committed to DTM (which I don't understand) so what's wrong with WRC? Not enough money for both or internal politics about supporting the German market with the DTM vs. MINI.....

[LukeBird]

Am I missing something here, why has the support been dropped seemingly at the last second when they (Mini & BMW) have done all of the hard work?

[DodoRacing]

What's the issue between the BMW and Prodrive?

[zeb]

what a mess....

[Marc W]

Autosport are reporting that Prodrive are continuing as well also as a works supported private team with Dani Sordo and Patrik Sandell drving in the rally of Sweden.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97371

Edit: Since I left this comment I notice the article above has been modified to say the same thing!

Edit edit! I've now seen the reply below mentioning this! :-)

Edited by Marc W on Tuesday 7th February 17:38

[EDLT]

Isn't Araujo normally a privateer, looks like he's been promoted.

I predict that Sordo will still be the highest scoring Mini driver by the end of the season.

[Old Merc]

I just can not get my head round this? just when a Brit gets a chance in a good car.Is there a UK firm that will back Kris ?? so he can thrash the others.

[jeremyc]

Dr Kay Segler appears to be doing a poor job.

Shouldn't it be MINI throughout that article, or are they switching back to Issigonis's original design?

[K50 DEL]

Gutted for Kris.... a very talented driver who always seems to be just outside of the breaks.

[Riggers]

jeremyc said:

Dr Kay Segler appears to be doing a poor job.

Shouldn't it be MINI throughout that article, or are they switching back to Issigonis's original design?

You can't pander top those who insist on RANDOM capitalisations, Jeremy. Like PistonHeads ;-)

[Shewie]

Seems like Kris Meeke continues to be the right man in the wrong place at the wrong time!! shame to see such a talent continue to go to waste..

MINI situation is shambolic at best, but what do you expect from the Dr Segler the man who in a previous guise brought us the BMW X6M???

[Riggers]

Marc W said:

Autosport are reporting that Prodrive are continuing as well also as a works supported private team with Dani Sordo and Patrik Sandell drving in the rally of Sweden.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97371

Duly tweaked our piece to reflect that

[EDLT]

Shewie said:

Seems like Kris Meeke continues to be the right man in the wrong place at the wrong time!! shame to see such a talent continue to go to waste..

MINI situation is shambolic at best, but what do you expect from the Dr Segler the man who in a previous guise brought us the BMW X6M???

Meeke seems to have the same problem as every British rally driver since Richard Burns. They need to bring far too much money (or be the team manager's son) to get to the top. Can't see that changing any time soon either.

[dbanes]

All irrelevant to me and millions of others since WRC disappeared from free to air TV. To be honest I don't see much coverage of it anywhere any more, mush like A1 GP, what happened to that?

[Charlie Foxtrot]

dbanes said:

To be honest I don't see much coverage of it anywhere any more,

You don't read the news much do you? No FIA promotion of WRC this year. Each round has to source/provide it's own TV coverage.

[Emeye]

Charlie Foxtrot said:

dbanes said:

To be honest I don't see much coverage of it anywhere any more,

You don't read the news much do you? No FIA promotion of WRC this year. Each round has to source/provide it's own TV coverage.

ITV4 had done a deal for this year with North One until they went tits up.

No idea why the FIA and Eurosports couldn't agree a deal. Something needs sorting before WRC dies.

[Emeye]

Pistonhead's WRC 2012 thread is here if you're interested:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Emeye]

And just thinking, ain't the works Portuguese Team MINI going to look like a bunch of tts when Sordo beats them every round?

Edited by Emeye on Tuesday 7th February 22:33

[firebird350]

Suits, man, suits! They're grey and visionless. You'd struggle to insert a playing card between the words 'corporate' and 'sport' these days.