Mini made a big splash in motorsports when it first announced its return to the World Rally Championship two years ago. Complete with an original Monte Carlo Rally Mini Cooper to promote its resurgence into racing, old and new rally fans alike were excited to see what sort of "giant killer" the new JCW Countryman WRC challenger could be -- except the Mini was never very competitive. Now, the company has officially announced its exit from WRC after only competing for one full season.
From a Mini press statement released this morning, Senior Vice President of MINI Business Coordination and Brand Management Dr. Kay Segler explained, "MINI will abandon its works involvement in the WRC at the end of the 2012 season. By the end of the season WRC Team MINI Portugal will have competed in every rally in 2012. As such, in accordance with FIA regulations, we will have achieved the WRC homologation for the MINI John Cooper Works. In doing so, we would have achieved the prerequisites to allow those interested to continue to run the car in the WRC on a customer rallying basis. BMW Motorsport will continue to further develop the 1.6-litre turbo engine in conjunction with Prodrive."
Mini's brief return wasn't without a number of challenges. Initially, Mini had vouched that it would win the whole championship by 2013 and had dedicated six WRC stages in 2011 specifically for development and testing. Failing to demonstrate competitive performance, execs from BMW have elected to change Mini's involvement in WRC from full works effort to just a works-supported private team. What's more, a tightening budget also later caused Mini to drop Irish drive Kris Meeke from their roster.
So far, Mini WRC had only scored 26 points at the Monte Carlo rally at the start of the season but has turned up short ever since. Despite the mediocre season, Mini's participation effectively makes the JCW Countryman WRC eligible for homologation, allowing privateer teams to continue competing with the car next year. BMW Motorsport vows to continue working with Prodrive to further develop the 1.6 liter turbo engine.
