The MINI John Cooper Works Team is returning to the hallowed grounds of Road America where the team has seen success for years. The MINI JCW Team will once again field cars in both the Touring Car (TC) and Touring Car A (TCA) classes for the 2021 SRO TC America series. The #60 wide-body MINI JCW PRO competing in the TC class will be piloted by team veteran driver Derek Jones while fellow team member Clay Williams will pilot the #62 MINI JCW in the TCA class.
“We were able to do a lot of work on both cars over the long break since VIR and the team is well rested and ready to have a strong weekend,” said Luis Perocarpi, team owner, LAP Motorsports. “We are also very proud to once again have amazing support from the local dealers here in the region who have sent in MINI service technicians to keep the cars running in top performance condition all weekend.”
While both cars will be competitive it’ll be interesting to see how the new MINI JCW PRO wide-body race car takes to the ultra-fast 4.1 miles Road America circuit.
A Crew of MINI Service Technicians
The MINI JCW Team will have their usual fulltime race crew supported by four service technicians from MINI dealerships across the Central Region, including two technicians from MINI of Glencoe in Glencoe, IL, one technician from MINI of Orland Park in Orland Park, IL and one from International MINI in Milwaukee, WI. These are the same technicians that repair customer MINIs and have proven time and again that their knowledge transfers to the racing world.
The Wide-Body MINI JCW PRO Race Car
The new MINI JCW PRO is a MINI John Cooper Works Hardtop that has been engineered and modified using both original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and components from across the MINI line up and aftermarket performance parts. While we particularly the wide stance and wing those modifications in particular were required to to meet the technical rules and regulations of the more competitive TC class. Also new is a revised tune which gives the B48 more boost allowing it to compete against the much higher horsepower cars like the BMW M2 and Civic SI.
Visually inspired by the third generation MINI John Cooper Works GP launched in 2020, the #60 MINI JCW PRO is a MINI John Cooper Works Hardtop that has been engineered and modified using both original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and components from across the MINI line up and aftermarket performance parts in order to meet the technical rules and regulations required to compete in the TC class. The GP-inspired visual cues presented on the #60 MINI JCW PRO, including the paint scheme and front grill and fender, also help to meet requirements of the series to differentiate the TC versus TCA race cars while on the track.
The Race
The MINI John Cooper Works team is looking to build on the momentum from the start of the season after taking three podiums at Sonoma Raceway in pursuit of the team’s third Manufacturer’s Championship in a row in the series. The MINI JCW Team also won Manufacturer’s Championship in 2018 in the final season of the Street Tuner class of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series, where the team finished ahead of BMW, Porsche and Mazda.
Both races will be streamed live at YouTube.com/GTWorld. In addition, the MINI John Cooper Works Team will provide live updates on practice, qualifying and race sessions in addition to timing and scoring across the team’s social media channels including Facebook and Instagram.