MINI CHAMPION TO UPGRADE CAR AND CATEGORY IN 2023
Newly crowned Mini Rally Challenge champion Mick Smith has announced he will not defend his title in 2023.
Instead, he will build a new car to contest the class for Type R53-based Mini Coopers that will be introduced next season. York-based Smith and co-driver Paul Stringer have dominated this year’s Challenge, scoring six out of seven maximum points hauls and finishing every rally they have contested. The pair clinched the onemake championship at the recent Heroes Stages Rally at Weeton Barracks in Lancashire and, soon after, Smith announced his intention to move up to the new category for more powerful machines.
He explained: “It’s been a brilliant year in a friendly and competitive championship that, potentially, can become massively successful.
The car has been fast and reliable all season. However, we are putting it up for sale to help fund the build of the new car.”
Smith will miss out the remaining two rounds to prepare his current R50specification machine before taking up the Mini Rally Challenge’s prize of an all-expenses paid entry on the Chris Kelly Memorial Manx Rally on the Isle of Man at the end of September.