Mini launches team manager search
Prodrive has begun a worldwide search for the team manager of the Mini World Rally Team - with the successful candidate expected to take up the position with the all-new organisation in April
Prodrive chairman David Richards has taken a fresh approach to filling this vital role and AUTOSPORT has been given unparalleled access to the Banbury-based team as it seeks the right person. Mini is expected to begin its World Rally Championship programme on Rally d'Italia in May.
Richards said: "People have always assumed you should have lived and breathed rallying all of your life to do this job, I'm not sure that's the case any more. The person we're seeking has to have a passion for motorsport, but it's a professional approach that we will be looking for and although he or she may well come from another discipline within the sport, it could equally be an enthusiast who is working in another business environment altogether.
"Where does that person come from? What do they look like? I can't tell you but Prodrive is committed to taking a fresh approach to finding the most suitable candidate. We're looking to raise the bar here and find the best possible person for the task, not necessarily the most obvious."
Richards' approach to the employment of personnel in the Mini team has been based around recreating the opportunities Prodrive received when it started working with Subaru in the WRC 25 years ago.
"We've got some very experienced people in the organisation," said Richards, "people who have been here from the start and can act as great mentors. What we want to do now is give others the chances that we had 25 years ago."
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