With the World Rally Championship heading to Germany on August 20, now’s a good time to check in with the MINI WRC Team…
For the third stage of the 2011 WRC tour, the MINI WRC team is getting ready to take on a brand-new test: Asphalt. For the first time in this year’s campaign, the BMW-owned team will be taking on large stretches of man-made tracking and lead drivers Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke are gearing up for the shift in surface.
“This is a rally I am really looking forward to,” Says Sordo. “I like the stages in all three areas – the vineyards, the military training ground and the normal roads. It has lots of hairpins, which are very different to the tight corners we get in Spain. I always remember the military training area of Baumholder, as there are some very big rocks there so you have to be careful not to get punctures. I particularly enjoy driving in the vineyards as these roads are narrow and fast.”
As a result of the circuit’s challenging surface conditions, the drivers have put in hours of extra training to prepare them for the rally ahead and got themselves into a competitive frame of mind with a warm-up race at last weekend’s Richard Burns Memorial Rally, at RAF Marham in Norfolk, England.
“We have high expectations going into Rally Germany,” says team principal David Richards. “The MINI has shown a great deal of promise in recent tarmac tests and both drivers have told me how much confidence they have in the set up.
'In Germany we will be looking to demonstrate the true performance of the MINI.”
“Dani, in particular, very much likes this rally and I know that he and Kris have traded times on these stages in the past. Unlike Finland, where our number one priority was to get valuable competitive mileage on the car, in Germany we will be looking for both drivers to begin to demonstrate the true performance of the MINI.”
For Kris Meeke, the rally at Trier in the heart of Germany’s wine-producing region, is a much-loved part of the world tour.
“I think it is a fantastic rally,” say Meeke. “I have done it three times before, and all have been good experiences. The stages are demanding and, because of the different surfaces, it is more like three rallies in one.”
The rally also gives Kris a chance to make up for a past error that left him in thrall to his now team-mate: “The year I remember best was in 2005 in the junior category when I was fighting with Dani, and after three days with two stages to go we were just six seconds apart. Unfortunately, I then had a puncture, but it was a fantastic battle.”
Check out RedBull.com for all the latest updates from WRC Germany 2011.
BMW Motorsport
Want more?
BMW Motorsport
- Check out Kris Meeke’s official site
- Visit Dani Sordo’s official site
- Kris’ profile page
- Take a look at the WRC Germany event page
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