Mini aims for the title in the next 3 years

Mini's arrival in the World Rally Championship was made official this morning. In 2011, the Countryman WRC will only be entered in a selection of events, before participating in the entire championship from 2012, the stated aim obviously being to obtain this world crown that Ford and Citroën have been competing for for several seasons.

“The goal is clearly to be competitive from the start, David Richards told Reuters. With BMW and Mini, we have set ourselves the goal of winning the title within the next three years. We (Prodrive, editor's note) have six world crowns to our credit and we know what it takes to achieve it. Next season we plan to participate in half of the championship. »

For the moment, no driver has been announced. But David Richards, after leading Colin McRae to the world title at Subaru in 1995 and Richard Burns in 2001, would dream of helping another of his compatriots to obtain the title. Outgoing champion in IRC with Peugeot , Kris Meeke is, according to certain rumors, one of the targets of the boss of Prodrive.

“Our goal is to have the best possible drivers, whatever their nationality. But I have always tried, wherever possible, to hire a British person. There are a few candidates. Perhaps we will hire a young pilot, to repeat what we achieved with Colin and Richard. »

There are certainly many candidates. The arrival of a new manufacturer in the World Rally Championship has at least the merit of relaunching the driver transfer market, which was until then limited to only two brands.