The World Rally Car variant of Cowley’s Mini, designed and built at Prodrive in Banbury, will star at Cornbury Park Rally Show, on May 14 and 15.

It will be the first public appearance for the new Mini John Cooper Works World Rally Car, launched earlier this week at the MINI plant in Cowley, Oxford, in the UK.

The Rally Show is a key event in the British motorsport calendar and in May is being held for the first time at the Cornbury Park Estate, the family home of Lord and Lady Rotherwick.

It is a motorsport festival featuring a wide variety of contemporary and classic rally cars, demonstrating on a 1.2-mile special stage that runs through Oxfordshire parkland.

Malcolm Neill, The Rally Show Managing Director, said: “The new Mini WRC is one of the biggest news stories in rallying for years, and we are delighted to be able to offer the first chance to see it. The fact that Minis are built in Oxford and that the rally car has been designed and built by Prodrive in Banbury, close to the Cornbury Park Estate in Charlbury, makes it all the more exciting.”

Campbell Roy, MINI WRC Team Manager from Banbury-based Prodrive added: “We are looking forward to giving British rally fans their first opportunity to view the new MINI John Cooper Works WRC in action.

"We know that everyone is very eager to see the car on home soil and we can’t think of a more fitting event than The Rally Show at Cornbury Park, just a few miles from where the car is built.

"The team will only just have returned from making its WRC debut on the Rally of Italy in Sardinia the previous weekend, so there should be plenty of interest and excitement generated in advance of this outing.

For tickets, news, and information visit The Rally Show website www.therallyshow.org