ARCHIVED PRESS RELEASES

The Prodrive WRC Team will run Jarkko Nikara at Rally Sweden in February.

Today it was officially announced that Prodrive has sold its Australian racing business, Ford Performance Racing (FPR), which competed in the Australian V8 Supercar series. Prodrive acquired the team in 2003 and has competed very successfully as the official Ford works entry in the series ever since. The company is now handing over the team to Rod Nash and Rusty French, who will retain the FPR name and existing team management and drivers. The full statement reads as follows:

Dani Sordo continued the last day of Rally Spain where he finished on Saturday, by winning four more stages in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC, taking the tally to six. He won all three stages this morning and for the afternoon, with rain forecast, Sordo gambled on running only hard Michelin tyres and it paid off winning the last stage and only coming second on the Powerstage due to the onset of rain. Meanwhile Jarkko Nikara, in his first event in a World Rally Car, finished in fifth place overall, one of the best WRC debuts in recent years, confirming what a great talent he is.

Rain on Sunday showed the strength of the MINI WRC’s chassis, helping Dani Sordo to set two second fastest stage times, before a heavy impact under the car on stage 18 led to a loss of power steering fluid and his eventual retirement from the event following stage 19. Meanwhile, Yvan Muller set two top five stage times in his MINI WRC as he found the confidence to exploit the full potential of his car, finishing in an excellent 14th place in a world class field.

Prodrive is nearly doubling the size of the workforce at its composites plant in Milton Keynes. The company is actively recruiting now and will take on a further 80 people during 2013, making it one of Europe’s largest composites specialists with close to 200 employed in its manufacturing operations.

Prodrive has built the world’s first new generation right hand drive (RHD) World Rally car. The new MINI John Cooper Works WRC will be driven by Derek McGeehan at the Lurgan Park Rally next weekend.

Dani Sordo won the two runs through the super special stage today in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC and combined this with some more impressive times on the final day’s five other stages to finish Rally New Zealand in sixth overall.

Prodrive\'s Aston Martin Vantage GTE has finished on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on its first attempt. The #97 V8-powered racer finished third in the fiercely competitive GTE Pro category having covered 332 laps – almost 3000 miles – of the celebrated 8.5-mile Circuit de la Sarthe without any technical problems.

Beechdean Racing’s Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam guided their Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 to victory at the Nürburgring this weekend in the British GT Championship.

Prodrive WRC Team driver, Dani Sordo won this weekend’s Corsica Rally, securing victory in the latest round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) in a Prodrive-prepared MINI John Cooper Works S2000. This was Sordo’s debut in the IRC, who more usually competes in the World Rally Championship, and was his first major international rally victory.