Two Minis in WRC 2 competition this year

Good news for fans of Prodrive and Mini – Ukraine-based team will compete in WRC 2 class this year with two Prodrive-built S2000 cars.

As far as Prodrive is concerned, they will skip Rallye Monte Carlo, but they plan to take part in this years World Rally Championship in some extent. For now, S2000 cars and WRC 2 are confirmed, and we’re looking forward to more good news coming from Prodrive.

Official release below.

The Ukraine-based Mentos Acania Racing Team will run two MINI John Cooper Works S2000 cars in the WRC 2 and the Ukrainian national championship in 2013.

Drivers Valery Gorban and Oleksii Kikireshko will debut their cars at Rally Sweden in February and will compete in the championship with full engineering and technical support from Prodrive.

The team is not new to the World Rally Championship, having competed in last year’s PWRC, where Gorban finished third in the series and secured victory on the Acropolis.

Graham Prew, senior sales manager at Prodrive, said: “The team considered all the latest WRCs, but chose the MINI after driving the car and visiting the factory. This is the first full customer programme for the MINI S2000 within the WRC. It has already proved its competitiveness on the international stage, winning the Tour de Corse in 2012 in the IRC, and with further engine and chassis development already underway, the Mentos cars will have the best chance to run at the front of the WRC 2 field.”

Both cars are being built to the latest specification and will leave Prodrive’s workshops in Banbury at the end of January.