MINI Heads Back to the Forest for the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood

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This weekend MINI USA and the John Cooper Works Race Team return to the American Rally Association championship for the second round of the 2026 season. The March 13–14 event, based around Salem and Potosi, Missouri, marks the 30th running of the rally and remains one of the fastest events on the ARA calendar. Thirteen stages covering 128 competitive miles will challenge teams with high-speed gravel roads and the rally’s most famous landmark, the Cattle Guard Jump.

MINI arrives with genuine momentum. After officially committing to a full 2026 ARA National Championship campaign, the brand opened the season with an impressive debut at SnoDrift in Michigan. Battling snowbanks, ice-covered stages and seasoned rally veterans, the team secured a class podium finish, something we explored in our SnoDrift rally recap. For a program just stepping onto the national stage, it was exactly the kind of start that turns curiosity into credibility.

The effort itself is run in partnership with LAP Motorsports and features two very different interpretations of MINI performance. In the Limited 4WD class, the team fields the MINI John Cooper Works Countryman ALL4. Alongside it sits the MINI John Cooper Works 2-Door competing in the Open 2WD class, a car that channels MINI’s classic rally DNA with its short wheelbase and famously lively handling.

Together they showcase both sides of MINI’s current performance lineup. As we noted when MINI first announced its return to U.S. rally racing, the pairing highlights the brand’s broader product range while still connecting directly to its motorsport roots.

Interestingly, the ARA classes these cars compete in allow only limited modifications from factory components. Beyond the obvious safety upgrades, both cars remain remarkably close to their road-going counterparts. That means the rally stages ultimately become a test of MINI’s underlying engineering rather than heavily modified race machinery.

According to LAP Motorsports team owner Luis Perocarpi, the team is eager to build on the momentum from Michigan.

“We’re excited to hit the rally stages once again this weekend at the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood following our strong showing at the Sno*Drift Rally last month. Both the John Cooper Works 2-Door and the John Cooper Works Countryman ALL4 demonstrated their performance in the icy conditions at the first rally of the ARA season, and we look forward to continuing the momentum for the next rally and the full season ahead.”

One of the more interesting elements of the program involves MINI’s dealer network. Select technicians from MINI dealerships will join the rally team as part of the pit crew at events throughout the season. It’s a rare opportunity for dealership technicians to step directly into the world of rally competition, working alongside the LAP Motorsports crew in an environment where speed, precision and problem-solving matter more than ever.

And then there’s the history.

1964 monte carlo rally – Hopkirk/Lidden

Rally is not something MINI is borrowing for marketing purposes. It’s baked into the brand’s mythology. The original Mini Cooper S famously stunned the motorsport world in the 1960s by winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965 and again in 1967. Designed by Alec Issigonis as a practical city car, the Mini became a giant killer thanks to John Cooper’s realization that light weight, front-wheel drive traction and razor-sharp handling could outperform far more powerful machines on tight mountain roads.

That same spirit resurfaced decades later when MINI returned to international rallying with the Dakar-winning MINI ALL4 Racing program in the 2010s.

Today’s MINI rally effort in the ARA is smaller in scale, but the philosophy feels familiar. MINI tends to be at its most interesting in motorsport when it looks slightly outgunned on paper and then proceeds to make life very uncomfortable for the competition.

If the Sno*Drift result is any indication, the 2026 MINI rally season may just be getting started.

The post MINI Heads Back to the Forest for the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood appeared first on MotoringFile.

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