The WRC Team Mini Portugal was Mini's factory-supported World Rally Championship team.
Established in February 2012 after the Prodrive-run Mini WRC Team had its support from parent company BMW reduced, the team debuted at the Rally of Sweden. The WRC Team Mini Portugal was formed out of the merger of the Mini entries of Armindo Araújo World Rally Team and Palmeirinha Rally, which were both run by the Motorsport Italia firm for drivers Armindo Araújo and Paulo Nobre respectively. Team Mini Portugal were registered as a manufacturer entry, while the Prodrive WRC Team was demoted to a works-supported private team. The manufacturers points that had been scored by Armindo Araújo World Rally Team and Palmeirinha Rally at the Monte Carlo Rally prior to the change were removed.
On 16 August 2012 it was announced that Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot would replace Armindo Araújo and Miguel Ramalho as the team's lead crew for the last five races of the 2012 WRC season.
At the end of 2012 Mini withdrew its financial support and the team was closed.
WRC Results
Year Car Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Points Points 2012 Mini John Cooper Works WRC 12 Armindo Araújo MON SWE15 MEX7 POR15 ARGRet GRE11 NZL8 FIN15 15th 11 - - Chris Atkinson GER5 GBR11 FRA8 ITA6 ESP7 13th 28 14 Paulo Nobre MON SWERet MEXRet PORDNS ARGRet GRE17 NZL17 FIN38 GERRet GBRRet FRARet ITA19 ESP30 - 0
References
External links
Team profile at WRC.com