It may not be a World Rally Championship event, but Mini is celebrating its first win at an international rally (at least its first such win of the modern era). The event in question was the Qatar International Rally, a fully FIA-sanctioned event that kicks off the 2012 Middle East Rally Championship (MERC). Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (with his brother Nasser as co-driver) edged out the competition by an impressive margin of 2:24.9 in the Mini Countryman JCW Super Production Car – the same vehicle that Prodrive fields in the WRC but with a smaller wing and restrictor plate, and similar to the X-Raid vehicle that recently won at Dakar.
Autoblog, Mini claims first international rally win
