Mentos MINIs
set for
WRC 2

Drivers Valery Gorban and Oleksii Kikireshko will debut their cars at Rally Sweden in February and will compete in the championship with 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, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, finished third in the series and secured class victory on the Acropolis.

“This is the first full customer programme for the MINI S2000 within the WRC,” 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.

“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. As well as its WRC 2 challenge, the Mentos squad will also content the Ukrainian national championship in 2013.