MINI John Cooper Works GP revealed

A late-stage prototype of the next-generation MINI John Cooper Works GP has made its debut at the Nurburgring 24 Hour endurance race.

Originally expected to be officially unveiled this September at the Frankfurt motor show, the MINI John Cooper Works GP prototype revealed over the weekend wore a lens-flaring camo but even that couldn't hide the dramatic changes over the current car.

These include a reprofiled front bumper and huge front and rear fender extensions that proves the latest JCW GP will feature a significantly widened track for higher cornering speeds.

Based on the current facelifted third-generation F55 hatch, other changes include a pair of wider air intakes, ultra-lightweight set of alloy wheels and a huge rear wing.

The increase in both downforce and mechanical grip have both been crucial to help engineers create a hot hatch in another league for performance compared to the last model.

To prove it, MINI claims the latest JCW GP is capable of a sub-eight-minute Nurburgring lap – more than 23 seconds quicker than the previous car.

Under the bonnet, the fast MINI is powered by a 220kW 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder that, along with plenty of weight-saving, should be among the fastest hot hatches money car buy.

No claims have been made on how fast the MINI JCW GP is but, with the help of a mechanical limited-slip differential that's rumoured, the hot hatch should post a sub-six second sprint to 100km/h before knocking on the door of a limited top speed of 250km/h.

Sitting lower to the ground, MINI says the JCW GP gets its own bespoke suspension tune that's likely to combine stiffer springs and trick motorsport-derived dampers.

Said to be officially on sale in 2020, MINI has announced the JCW GP will be made as part of a limited-run of just 3000 cars.

It’s still not clear how many MINI GP hot hatches will be coming to Australia but of the previous model’s global run of 2000 units saw 55 cars shipped to Oz, priced at $57,000 apiece.