Wild speculation time everybody! It seems that renown rally team Prodrive, which up until now represented Subaru in the WRC competition and produced world champions like Colin McRae, Richard Burns or Peter Soldberg, is working with a carmaker completely new to the rally scene and on a car that hasn’t been launched yet.
Hmmm, whatever could it be? *cough* Mini Crossover maybe? When asked about the possibility that his team is indeed working with the British brand, the technical director, David Lapworth, said that he can’t confirm or deny such a thing, and that in the following months it will become harder and harder to keep the project a secret.
“Right now there is nothing to say and I don’t think there will be anything to say until the spring. This is not an official statement from me, it’s just the way things look. That said, it’s going to be very difficult to keep this thing under wraps. Very soon we will have to start involving more and more people: the FIA, a lot more suppliers and things like that. Once we do that, more is bound to come out. It’s possible a holding statement might be made then. It’s going to be hard to keep it a secret.”
When asked by Autocar if the rally team has a working prototype of the car that they will use in the competition, Lapworth revealed that: “That would be difficult, the car doesn’t exist yet.”
While there are certainly plenty of cars which haven’t been launched, it seems that all of the current rumors indicate the Mini Crossover, set to be launched at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2010, as the prime target.
Autocar also suggest that if the rumors were to come true, Mini and Prodrive will test the car during 2010, attend a few stages in 2011 and if things go along smoothly, will enter for the full season in 2012.
Do you see such a thing coming true? Leave a comment with your thoughts.
Post tags: Tags: Mini, mini crossover, Motorsport, prodriver, rally, wrc
