I've done a lot of digging for better info on this and I can't find anything definitive. Neither Herr Moneybags nor anyone from Prodrive seems to want to spill the real details...either that or I'm just not searching well and I've missed it. I've done my best to detect and disregard the majority of what I've read as speculation based on little/nothing more than outsider expectations. That leaves little that feels real/solid, but it's fairly consistent. Here's what I think.
I think the "deal" was that Prodrive would do all the real work and MINI would do all the promotion. MINI provided the majority of funding for the testing and limited 2011 program. However, there was never any promise from MINI to increase funding to the level required to run the full 2012 season nor any expectation on the part of Prodrive that they would do so. In fact, I suspect they said from the beginning that their financial commitment to the program would peak in 2011, sort of as seed money to get the ball rolling. The deal and therefore expectation of both parties, from the very start, was that a full 2012 season would depend on acquiring a different Mr. Moneybags / title sponsor who wanted to be associated with MINI's return to rallying.
Nathan's description of the affects of the downfall of the promoter, lack of coverage, etc, meant that no one could be convinced to throw money at the new program. As a result Prodrive pushed MINI to change the plan and keep things going a little longer while MINI, observing the same signs that turned off new investors, backed up even further than they originally intended to between 2011 and 2012. This left Prodrive with two real options, drop out or cut back.
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