Mini John Cooper Works

Mini used this year’s Nurburgring 24 hour race to present a unique John Cooper Works GP prototype, well before the fully-fledged production version goes on sale in 2020. Armed with the latest 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo packing at least 220kW of power, the new GP is billed as the fastest production series Mini in the brand’s history, and the most powerful version ever built for the road.

Mini has confirmed a new stripped out John Cooper Works GP is being developed, ahead of an on-sale date at some point in 2020. Previewed by the John Cooper Works GP concept revealed in 2017, the car will follow in the footsteps of the 2006 JCW GP and 2012 JCW GP. Both those cars had just two seats, manual transmissions and roll cage, and both were built in very limited numbers.

Mini has unveiled the cars it will be taking to the 2018 Dakar Rally, showcasing two very different approaches to desert-destroying performance. Along with the all-wheel drive John Cooper Works Rally, the company will be lining up with the rear-driven John Cooper Works Buggy. The company, which has a long-running partnership with X-raid, won the race overall in 2012, '13, '14 and '15, but could only manage outright sixth in the most recent running of the famous rally.