Sittingbourne’s Liam Doran has today announced that he is working with Provdrive to develop a rally cross spec Mini.
The 26-year-old will be helping to convert a World Rally Championship Specification Mini, making the necessary adjustments with Prodrive to meet the rally cross regulations. They will also make other adjustments to ensure that the car is prepared for the shorter sprint style of racing.
Doran has recently been racing a WRC Mini at the British Rallycross Championships at Lydden Hill and this will now end speculation as to what Liam was doing.
Speaking at the partnership between Liam, Monster Energy and Prodrive, Business Development Director of Prodrive, Richard Taylor, said: ““Prodrive are delighted to be working with Liam to bring the MINI to the Global Rallycross Championship. There is a huge growth in interest in Rallycross from fans, drivers and teams.
“It’s a dynamic and exciting sport and we know we are going to have to work very hard to make the MINI competitive against the more established competitors. It is however great to have Liam, a former XGames winner, to share his experience with us and to drive the MINI RX. Clearly our target is to be capable of podiums and ultimately victories in the Championship.”
Liam has a wealth of experience in Rally cross as well as other motorsport and the two are looking to gel well and prepare a competitive car in the remaining XGames events in Barcelona, Munich, Los Angeles and other various Global rallycross events in America.
Giving his reaction to this massive announcement, a delighted Liam, said: ““I am really excited about this project. I think Prodrive will bring a lot to rallycross.
“After testing the mini at Lydden I know the car will be competitive with some minor changes to get me some more power. It is a great car to drive and I really believe with the help of Prodrive and Monster Energy we can bring us home some gold.”
Liam has recently been competing in the XGames in Brazil, where things didn’t quite go according to plan for the Kent racer. Despite qualifying first, car issues in the first heat put him in the LCQ where he didn’t get off the start line, however he will be back stronger than ever especially with today’s exciting news.
Picture supplied by Johan Hendrickx