From wrc.com
The MINI WRC Team's technical chief Dave Wilcock has joined factory driver Dani Sordo in refusing to get carried away following the make's maiden world championship podium on ADAC Rallye Deutschland last month.
Dani Sordo took third place on the asphalt event on what was only his third appearance in the Anglo-German squad’s John Cooper Works WRC. He said: "It was one of the best results of my career, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to the next round trying to win. The car is fantastic and, the result was more than I expected."
Dave Wilcock says there is still a considerable amount of work to do to ensure Sordo and team-mate Kris Meeke can maintain the Prodrive-run team’s strong start to its world championship campaign.
"We know our strengths and also our weaknesses," said Dave Wilcock. "We know where we have to work and we will do that as we have a clear plan. We will work out a priority order and start attacking them. We are a small team but we are committed and will do everything we can to improve as much as we can. We have short-term objectives with some performance and some reliability. However, we have a clear focus and that is on 2013 and we are now going to stick to that and work to our calculated development plan."
Dave Wilcock continued: "We were level pegging with the Ford [team] and able to race them comfortably. We take that as a real positive. We now need to switch that over onto the gravel, but at the moment we shall keep our focus on the Tarmac as we have another two rallies on this surface coming up."
"We learned a lot [in Germany]," added Wilcock. "The MINI is a fantastic little car on Tarmac. It is very sensitive and very driveable in changing conditions and sensitive to changes. The drivers have the ability to tune it to their liking so that is a real attribute. The nice thing is our customers who are rallying it are also saying the same, so there is another strong positive."
The MINI WRC Team has not included Rally Australia on its schedule of events this season. MINI’s next event is Rallye de France Alsace from 28 September-2 October.
The MINI WRC Team's technical chief Dave Wilcock has joined factory driver Dani Sordo in refusing to get carried away following the make's maiden world championship podium on ADAC Rallye Deutschland last month.
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| Daniel Sordo, MINI Prodrive WRC (Photo: WRI2) |
Dani Sordo took third place on the asphalt event on what was only his third appearance in the Anglo-German squad’s John Cooper Works WRC. He said: "It was one of the best results of my career, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to the next round trying to win. The car is fantastic and, the result was more than I expected."
Dave Wilcock says there is still a considerable amount of work to do to ensure Sordo and team-mate Kris Meeke can maintain the Prodrive-run team’s strong start to its world championship campaign.
"We know our strengths and also our weaknesses," said Dave Wilcock. "We know where we have to work and we will do that as we have a clear plan. We will work out a priority order and start attacking them. We are a small team but we are committed and will do everything we can to improve as much as we can. We have short-term objectives with some performance and some reliability. However, we have a clear focus and that is on 2013 and we are now going to stick to that and work to our calculated development plan."
Dave Wilcock continued: "We were level pegging with the Ford [team] and able to race them comfortably. We take that as a real positive. We now need to switch that over onto the gravel, but at the moment we shall keep our focus on the Tarmac as we have another two rallies on this surface coming up."
"We learned a lot [in Germany]," added Wilcock. "The MINI is a fantastic little car on Tarmac. It is very sensitive and very driveable in changing conditions and sensitive to changes. The drivers have the ability to tune it to their liking so that is a real attribute. The nice thing is our customers who are rallying it are also saying the same, so there is another strong positive."
The MINI WRC Team has not included Rally Australia on its schedule of events this season. MINI’s next event is Rallye de France Alsace from 28 September-2 October.