MINI RX wins on debut in Munich

Liam Doran won gold at the Munich XGames in his MINI RX on the car's competition debut and then followed this up with silver in the second final today.
 
Prodrive felt the short Munich circuit would suit the MINI and so it proved. On Saturday, Doran was the fastest qualifier and heat winner, and started from the front of the grid in the wet and slippery conditions. A great start saw him hold off all the cars into the first corner.

Despite losing the lead shortly after, he was able to regain first position and then pull out a comfortable advantage. A puncture with three laps to go saw the tyre slowly coming away from the rim, but he was able to maintain his lead and clinch a debut victory for the MINI RX.
 
For Sunday's final Doran was the heat winner again, but this time started the final, held in the dry, from the outside of the front row. Even so he was still able to take the lead into the first corner. An impact shortly after bent the rear toe arm on the MINI meaning he spent the remaining laps with the left rear wheel pointing in the wrong direction. Despite this he maintained second position and collected a silver medal.
 
Liam Doran said: "I guess I was disappointed not to win the second final too, but still it now means I have got two different coloured medals. It's been a great weekend and we've come away with far more than I expected in a brand new car against the best drivers in the world. The car was really good, the team worked hard and I can't wait to get to the US."
 
The 1.6 litre engine MINI RX was competing against 2.0 litre cars and despite giving away around 100 bhp, the MINI clearly demonstrated the value of the WRC-proven chassis in rallycross.
 
"We knew if we could get our nose ahead at the first corner then we should be able to hold off the rest of the pack and so it proved," said Richard Taylor, Prodrive business development director. "Liam was unfortunate to damage his rear toe arm in the second race, otherwise it could possibly have been two wins from two. I think we have proven a point here that power isn't everything and I have a feeling we could be getting a few calls over the coming days."
 
Prodrive has been developing this first MINI RX with Liam Doran as it looks to enter the rallycross market for the first time. It now intends to start selling the MINI RX to customers.
 
The car now heads to the USA for two further rounds of the Global Rallycross Championship and the Los Angeles X Games.

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