Mini to enter World Rally Championship

Owners BMW have announced Mini will enter the World Rally Championship next season with their Countryman WRC car.

Manufacturer Mini will return to the World Rally Championship next season in a major boost to the sport.

Only Citroen and Ford are seriously competing this year and the sport has been trying to encourage other manufacturers to enter the championship for the past couple of years.

Owners BMW have announced that Mini will compete in selected rounds next season before a full campaign from 2012.

Prodrive, the British-based company that ran the successful Subaru World Rally Team, have been working on a Mini Countryman WRC car for months and say they want to be competitive from the outset and are targeting a world title within three years.