MINI was proud to announce today that a John Cooper Works Super Production Car (SPC) captured its first FIA International event win this past weekend. Driver Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari took the checkered flag home at the Qatar International Rally, the first found in the 2012 Middle East Rally Championship (MERC).

Al Kuwari had his brother, Nassar Al-Kuwari as his co-driver, and the pair captured the race victory by a margin of 2m 24.9s and was the team’s first career MERC win. It was also a successful debut of the Prodrive-built, Tok Sport-ran MINI John Cooper Works SPC. The MINI SPC is the regional rally specification of the MINI World Rally Car. It is nearly identical to the WRC except the SPC runs with a smaller engine restrictor (30-mm versus 33-mm) and a smaller rear wing.

“It is a fantastic feeling to win this rally,” said Al-Kuwari, who became the 32nd driver in history to win at least one round of the MERC.  “I have achieved success in national rallies in Qatar, but this was the big one. This was the rally I wanted to win. It was a great battle with Nasser. The new car was fantastic. This is the biggest win of my career.”

The team is now looking forward to becoming a force to be reckoned with in the 2012 Middle East Rally Championship.

MINI‘s hopes for capturing the 2012 World Championship Rally title took a big blow before the effort even started. Mini has missed the deadline for signing up for next years championship, which expired at midnight, last night.

The Mini rally car, which is based on the Countryman model is prepared by Prodrive in Banbury, U.K. Now Prodrive, Mini and its parent company BMW are in talks with the FIA to seek an extension to the deadline.

The driver’s for the Mini WRC; Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo made no comment on this situation, but sources say that the team has a strong desire to compete in the WRC 2012 season.

Despite the setback, Mini is expected to make a return to the Monte Carlo Rally next year, an event that made the Mini a legend back in the 1960′s.

Will the FIA grant Mini the extension it needs? We’ll keep you posted on any developments.

[Source: Autosport]

Prodrive is synonymous with turning everyday family runabouts into championship winning rally cars. Most recently, they have competed with a Mini Countryman, which is faring quite well so far.

Now Prodrive is turning its attention to making a special version of a Countryman for those who don’t have a race seat in the FIA Rally Championship.

Based on information by some industry moles, the Prodrive Countryman sports a more muscular body, a large rear wing and some tasty alloy wheels.

The changes won’t be just cosmetic as it will also feature a Milltek exhaust and a performance enhancing chip by Superchips, which will easily boost output to 230-hp. It might get even more if they decide to replace the current turbo unit with a larger one.

No pricing or availability is known for now, but since North Americans never got to sample any other products Prodrive produced in the past, chances are we won’t get this one either.

Mini will eventually offer its own John Cooper Works version of the Countryman, which will be exciting enough for most of us.

[Source: Autocar]

It’s been 40-some odd years, but Mini is finally returning to the world rally stage.

The Mini WRC Team will be competing in the 2011 World Rally Championship with the John Cooper Works Countryman, as modified by legendary performance company Prodrive. The team was recently launched in its factory in Oxford in a nostalgia-laden gala that saw Paddy Hopkirk and Rauno Aaltonen show up in the Mini Cooper S that won them three rally championships in 1964, 1965, and 1967.

“On the one hand, MINI can look back on a unique success story,” said Ian Robertson, a member of BMW’s board of management. “On the other hand, MINI is the epitome of excitement for millions of fans around the world and thrills them with its energy. This is precisely what we are able to authentically represent through our motorsport involvement in the World Rally Championship.”

This year’s drivers and navigators in the Countryman will be Kris Meeke of England and Paul Nagle of Ireland, and Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio, from Spain. Their first race will be at Rally d’Italia Sardegna from May 5th to the 8th, and they will enter five more races in the season.

Jaguar debuted an XF sedan that utilizes a new type of hybrid system, one that recaptures energy through a mechanical flywheel rather than a battery system.

Dubbed Flywheel Hybrid System for Premium Vehicles(FHSPV), the new technology is being developed with engineering powerhouses like Ricardo, Prodrive and Xtrac, who all have significant experience developing parts for race cars. “The FHSPV is really an engineering due diligence exercise,” says the project’s engineer Daniel Loftus. “We need to look at mechanical flywheels and see how they compare with electric hybrids. And then see if they have a production future.”

The flywheel puts power to the ground via an Xtrac-developed CVT gearbox, and can produce an extra 80 horsepower for a seven second time period. Combined with a start-stop system and a package size that weighs half of a traditional hybrid system, the FHSPV can also deliver a 20 percent fuel economy savings.

The one obstacle stopping the FHSPV from production is the falling cost of battery systems. Hopefully, the technology sees the light of day, as it seems to offer a lot of promise.

[Source: Autocar]

Last week we reported that MINI’s new Countryman WRC had completed its initial shakedown, and now we’ve got a trio of videos to prove it. The Prodrive-developed WRC car has been testing out in Portugal with Markko Märtin behind the wheel.

As we mentioned before, the aerodynamics seen on the MINI Countryman WRC currently won’t be the final components used as the final WRC bodywork is under construction. We’ll see limited competition out of MINI for 2011 as they’ll only be participating in select WRC rounds. But their plans is to be full on competition for 2012 and beyond.

As for our initial impressions of the MINI Countryman WRC in these videos, it looks to be a very formidable opponent and it sounds just awesome.

Check out all three videos after the break.

[Source: German Car Scene]

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MINI‘s new Countryman WRC car has just completed its initial “shakedown” by Prodrive, the incredibly successful motorsports company that is building the rally car.

More importantly, however, we’ve been provided with the first glimpse at the rally version of the MINI crossover, with a massive rear spoiler, big off-road tires and a significantly lowered suspension. MINI has confirmed, however, that the aerodynamics on the car are not the ones that will be used when it makes its WRC debut.

Prodrive ran the car for four days at its facility in Warwickshire, driving mostly on tarmac, but also on dirt. The car is now scheduled to travel to Portugal where it will undergo a week of gravel testing.

“As with any totally new car, it is vital to take time to ensure all the systems are working as intended before embarking on a week long gravel test,” said David Lapworth, Prodrive technical director.

MINI intends to run some of the 2011 WRC before preparing for a full season of racing in 2012.

MINI has officially announced that it will enter the World Rally Championship (WRC) next year, teaming up with Prodrive and running a Countryman crossover. The MINI Countryman WRC is being developed by the legendary Prodrive race team (which helped Subaru win six championships) to run part of the 2011 season as it prepares for a full 2012 season of competition.

The modified Countryman model will meet new FIA Super2000 regulations, using a turbocharged 1.6-liter 4-cylinder BMW Motorsport engine, mated to MINI’s new All4 all-wheel drive system.

In the future, MINI will offer the Countryman WRC model to customer teams, so expand the number of MINIs competing in rally racing internationally.

Rumors suggest several well-known drivers may compete for the official MINI team, including Mads Ostberg and Marcus Gronholm.

Official release after the jump:

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Rumors that MINI will enter the World Rally Championship have been swirling for almost a year now, but that could all end later this week. According to the most recent reports, MINI will confirm its intentions to join the WRC series later this week with renowned British racing firm Prodrive set to take over operations of the team.

Based on the Countryman crossover, the MINI rally car has been under secret development at the Prodrive facility in Banbury.

Once the car is unveiled, testing will then begin with Norway’s Mads Ostberg believed to be signed on as both an official test driver and as a factory driver in next year’s WRC season. Due to significant development time, however, its unlikely that MINI will be prepared to start the 2011 WRC season and is likely to join later in the year, using the remaining stages to properly develop the car in competition for a championship run in 2012.

[Source: AutoSport]

Subaru’s Impreza WRX and STI models are some of the best performance cars money can buy, but customers in the United Kingdom will now have an extra incentive to buy one of Subaru’s boxer-engined hatchbacks. Prodrive, a British motorsports engineering firm long associated with Subaru, is offering a free upgrade package for the WRX and STI (valued at £3100) that adds a revised ECU, upgraded mufflers and 18-inch wheels.

No new power numbers are available, but the increases are expcted to be in the 30-hp and 30 ft-lb range for each model. Subaru claims the upgrades are expected to shave 0.6 seconds from the 0-60 mph time of the WRX (bringing it down to 5.9 seconds) and 0.4 seconds from the STI’s time (helping it reach the mark in 4.8 seconds).

[Source:  World Car Fans]

Official release after the jump:

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