Just out of the blue MINI announced that by the end of 2012 they will cease all World Rally Championship operations. That is a bit shocking because they’ve been doing alright and they’d prepared a great car. Mind you, the Countryman WRC can still compete in the next season, but not with MINI’s official team. That’s out of the game.

So maybe they just needed this season to make sure the car is up to speed. Now they can just sit back and sell the car to other private teams willing to use it, and enjoy its performance. BMW and Prodrive, two companies involved in making the Countryman WRC, will both keep working on it. BMW is actually developing a new 1.6 liter turbo engine.

Maybe if someday MINI made another real ‘Mini’ Cooper, and they found someone as competent as Paddy Hopkirk, they think about returning to the sport.

“By the end of the season WRC Team MINI Portugal will have competed in every rally in 2012. As such, in accordance with FIA regulations, we will have achieved the WRC homologation for the MINI John Cooper Works. In doing so, we would have achieved the prerequisites to allow those interested to continue to run the car in the WRC on a customer rallying basis.”