MINI WRC Countryman

Prodrive has signed young British rally driver Kris Meeke as its first driver. Here’s the news straight from Autocar:

>A source close to Prodrive said, “The deal with Kris is done. [Prodrive chairman] David Richards has talked a great deal about having a British driver and he’s been as good as his word.” Richards has previously expressed a desire to recruit a new young team of engineers, mechanics and drivers to help achieve similar success to the Subaru glory days.

>Richards said: “The whole idea and the whole concept is to recreate what we did with young people in the Subaru days, and our job is to give them all the resources they need to do the job properly and to stand back and let them get on with it. “In the same vein we took on Colin McRae and Richard Burns, we want to do that again. We want to create a team that everybody feels part of and passionate about. I remember the days when we were running Colin and the following which we created.”

There you have it. The car, the team and now the drivers are coming together for a mid-2011 rally debut. Look for the actual car to rear its head later this fall (or sooner). In the meantime read up on the team and the details around it in our Countryman WRC section.