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23rd
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Prodrive World Rally Championship (WRC) outfit has opted out of the season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo. Instead, the team's MINI racers will start their season at round two, in Sweden.
Having lost MINI's backing at the end of the 2012 season, Prodrive has had cut back on its involvement in the WRC. Its only representative at the Monte-Carlo rally will be Michal Kosciuszko's Motorsport Italia entry, as Autosport pointed out.
"There's no financial support from MINI," Prodrive's Richard Taylor reminded everyone on WRC.com. "Whatever we do has to stack up commercially."
Last season failed to yield the success the team was hoping for. So in a bid to regain the lost form, head of states opted to downsize their calendar, and wait until the MINI is 100% ready to attack again, which means February's Rally Sweden.
"We're [...] optimistic we'll get to Sweden and we're positive the car will be capable of setting good times," added Taylor. "[We want] to do a reasonable number of rallies with a car capable of winning."
Meanwhile, rivals are gearing up for round one of the season.
As France's Auto Hebdo noted, 84 cars have registered for the Monte-Carlo rally, among which are the winners of the last four editions of the event: Sébastien Loeb (2012), Bryan Bouffier (2011), Mikko Hirvonen (2010) and Sébastien Ogier (2009).
Having lost MINI's backing at the end of the 2012 season, Prodrive has had cut back on its involvement in the WRC. Its only representative at the Monte-Carlo rally will be Michal Kosciuszko's Motorsport Italia entry, as Autosport pointed out.
"There's no financial support from MINI," Prodrive's Richard Taylor reminded everyone on WRC.com. "Whatever we do has to stack up commercially."
Last season failed to yield the success the team was hoping for. So in a bid to regain the lost form, head of states opted to downsize their calendar, and wait until the MINI is 100% ready to attack again, which means February's Rally Sweden.
"We're [...] optimistic we'll get to Sweden and we're positive the car will be capable of setting good times," added Taylor. "[We want] to do a reasonable number of rallies with a car capable of winning."
Meanwhile, rivals are gearing up for round one of the season.
As France's Auto Hebdo noted, 84 cars have registered for the Monte-Carlo rally, among which are the winners of the last four editions of the event: Sébastien Loeb (2012), Bryan Bouffier (2011), Mikko Hirvonen (2010) and Sébastien Ogier (2009).