MINI is back. This summer saw the return of MINI to the starting grid of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), one of the world’s toughest race series.

2011 sees two official MINI John Cooper Works WRC cars – with Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke at the wheel – taking part in six of the 13 WRC rallies by way of preparing for a full assault on the championship in 2012. THE MINI INTERNATIONAL was present at the premiere in Sardinia – and what a debut it was! Dani Sordo immediately captured a sixth-place finish, and memories flooded back of the glory days of rallying when the diminutive red cars won the Monte Carlo Rally three times in succession against superior competition back in the 1960s. The red and white MINI Countryman, tuned by British-based company Prodrive and boasting permanent all-wheel drive and legendary MINI roadholding, powered Sordo and his co-driver Carlos del Barrio through the bends to the delight of the spectators. Each turn of the steering wheel elicited more loud cheers, "oohs" and "aaahs" as Sordo flashed past the crowd, engine roaring and tyres spitting out dust and pebbles in his wake. "We like to think the MINI is one of our own," declared one spectator in the valley of Monte Pinu. "Somehow it’s one of the family," he added. "It’s great for rallying that such a legendary car is back racing." Kris Meeke also came away satisfied, even though he had to drop out of the race on day 2 with a technical fault: "However much you test, until you get to the first stage of a rally you don’t know how fast your car really is," Meeke noted after the race. "After 40 kilometres [25 miles] we were only four seconds off the top speed. Now we know we’ve got a fast car on our hands. Next year we’ll be competing for the championship title."