SILVER AT THE NÜRBURGRING 24-HOUR RACE.
The MINI JCW 1to6 Edition made its debut at the iconic (and notoriously difficult) Nürburgring 24-hour race in May. Modified slightly for the track, while maintaining a 6-speed manual gearbox, it made a spectacular comeback to clinch second place in its class – the first time MINI has made the podium here in its history.
GOING THE DISTANCE.
Let’s just say we didn’t ease the MINI JCW 1to6 Edition into racing life gently. Over 24 hours, the Bulldog Racing Team took it around a whopping 114 laps and covered approximately 2,894 kilometres – that’s just further than the straight line distance between our showroom and Athens! And in this time, they made just 15 pit stops. If that doesn’t show off the car’s incredible endurance and performance, we don’t know what does.
LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE DRIVERS.
Of course, the Bulldog Racing Team also showed their serious skill and determination throughout the race. Sebastian Sauerbrei's impressive performance in the first stint set the tone, making up numerous positions and setting his fastest lap time of 10:16.362 minutes. Woosh. The baton was then passed to Michael Mönch and Charlie Cooper (Grandson of the John Cooper, no less) who kept up the team's progress. Oh, and Christoph Kragenings achieved a new fastest lap time of 10:15.551 minutes as the race progressed.
A WORD FROM CHARLIE COOPER.
"To start as an underdog and to be able to achieve such a great result right off the bat at the debut, that's typical MINI. It feels like history repeating itself back in the spirit of the early 1960s when my grandfather John Cooper was underestimated against a perceived superiority of much more powerful competitors, only to win the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965 and 1967. I'm delighted that together with MINI and Bulldog Racing, we've opened the next chapter in our brand's motorsport activities and given MINI its first podium finish in a 24-hour race."
