Reigning Intercontinental Rally Champion Kris Meeke has been linked to a possible Mini WRT seat for the 2011 WRC season. Sources within Prodrive, the firm to be running the German company's foray into the WRC, have hinted that Meeke had been contracted to a seat but this is been abruptly rubbished by both parties.
Other drivers such as Mads Ostberg, P-G Andersson & Chris Atkinson (who has recently signed for Proton to run in the APRC) have been linked to the same seat.
Richard Taylor, Sporting Director of Prodrive, siad in an interview with Autosport magazine: “We're always talking to drivers about what we might be doing.
“It remains our intention to return to the WRC in 2011, which is nine months away. We're in no rush to announce anything. I think we're rather putting the cart before the horse here. We don't have a car to put a driver in.
“We're looking for drivers capable of winning WRC rounds so, naturally, that's were we look first, but we're not looking exclusively there & anybody who has won an international series has got to be worth looking at.”
Prodrive boss David Richards has not withheld his desire to discover the next British World Champion. Richards' Banbury based squad built & ran Colin McRae's 1995 World Championship winning car, & also supplied Richard Burns' 2001 winning car.
Taylor later commented: “The choice of driver is not driven by marketing, primarily, it's about who's the fastest driver but obviously a marketing strategy is taken into account.”
Meeke has signed a 2 year contract extention with Peugeot, so is unlikely to leave the Kronos Racing run operation for the next 2 years.
The Countryman road car, which Prodrive will base the WRC car on, will not be built in the Cowley factory in Oxford but will be built in Austria.
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