The FIA has confirmed Mini World Rally Team will contest this year's series as a full manufacturer. As revealed by AUTOSPORT on January 4, the British-based team will run Dani Sordo in a John Cooper Works WRC, with paying drivers taking the second seat in place of Kris Meeke due to a shortfall in the budget. It remains unclear precisely how many rounds of the series the Prodrive-run cars will attend, with the long-haul events believed to be the most likely - but when they do attend they will be eligible for points as a full manufacturer. Mini's full manufacturer status has been achieved via a waiver which allows the team to escape the clause which states they must contest all 13 WRC rounds. The FIA has also confirmed numerous other WRC teams, which are making a smaller commitment to the championship and are not required to name a number one driver or contest a full programme. Two M-Sport Ford World Rally team entries have come and will be taken by a variety of M-Sport customers, including Mads Ostberg, Ott Tanak, Henning Solberg, Jari Ketomaa and Matthew Wilson. Armindo Araujo has registered his own team, while Brazilian driver Paulo Nobre runs under the Palmeirinha Rally name - both Nobre and Araujo drive Minis. And, while Nasser Al-Attiyah's Citroen DS3 WRC will be run by the factory team, it will be entered under the Qatar Rally Team banner.
I thought the plan was for at least one car to run all events. This sounds like even the Sordo car might not run all events. That would be sad.
Yes, there is that plan it seems to have at least one car at all events. However, the way I'm reading all this is that the 2011 Sordo Car has been sold and thats what is being referred to when they mention the ex Sordo car. Then again, I could be wrong, it has happened before.
