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MINI WRC Team Not Unhappy Despite Failure To Finish Rally Finland


Dave Wilcock, Technical Director of the MINI WRC Team, says they are not unhappy with both cars failure to finish the Rally Finland. Wilcox is quoted:
What we wanted to achieve here was to understand where we are relative to our competitors. We wanted to cover a decent competitive mileage with both our crews, but especially with Kris.

Dani showed us the car is quick in certain places, which gives us lots to work on. He proved the car is reliable to a certain point. We know we have a small problem with it scooping debris into the front, and radiator blockage problems, but we can fix this. We saw small signs of it before, which we thought we had cured and got to the bottom of, but there is obviously still an issue there and this will be one the things we will focus on.

On top of that we wanted Kris to come away with enough information for him to use it to improve for next year, and to prove the durability of the car. He did everything we asked him to do. He was very professional. Kris is one of the most competitive drivers I have ever met. He is so hard to hold back and he was frustrated the whole rally. He kept it together, he showed us he could not only respond to orders, but do this competitively as well, as he did some very good splits on the stages. He over achieved here and we are very, very pleased with him.
Next up for the team is Rally Germany hopefully with two brand new cars but, because of time constraints, the Team may have to make do with a rebuild of one of the cars used in Rally Finland for Kris Meeke to race. A weekend before Rally Germany the team will participate in the Richard Burns Memorial Rally at RAF Marham in the UK.

The private Brazil WRT team of Daniel Oliveira and Carlos Magalhaes, driving the only other MINI in the Rally Finland, completed the race but did not land among the top 10 finishers. Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) was the winner of the Rally for the second time.



[Sources: MINI Motorsport/Motorsport.com]