There was a fair bit of hullabaloo two years ago when Mini announced a return to the World Rally Championship for this season, but the road to making that happen has been as rocky as a gravel stage.

The hotter crossover would receive the once-over by the rally kings at Prodrive using lessons learned from the Mini WRC effort. Dave Richards, the head honcho at Prodrive, has made it clear that ...

The original Cooper was extremely popular in the early days of the sport, and modern Mini entered the WRC—albeit briefly—in 2011 with the Countryman. Instead of something with hill-descent ...