Team MINI on the pace at Indy

Team MINI has come out fighting at the Gold Coast Indy festival with a blazing display of pace in the first round of the Team Australia Speed Comparison.

The single lap Speed Comparison pits one of the Team MINI Cooper S tarmac rally cars against a Porsche Carrera Cup and an open-wheel Champ Car. The first running of the handicap ‘race’ this afternoon saw the pint-sized Cooper S at a pace that was fast enough to hold off the Carrera Cup car in a close to photo-finish on the line.

The Indy Champ Car overhauled the MINI, driven by multi-times Aussie champ Paul Stokell, and the Porsche on the line, giving spectators a dramatic finish to the first of three demonstration runs.

Stokell said he was pumped with the MINI’s performance on the track.

“We had very little time to get used to the track, but the MINI is very good on circuits like this.

“We have set the car up to international MINI Challenge (race) spec with stiff suspension and full slicks. The car was fantastic under brakes, with amazing grip from the Dunlop tyres.

“As I was racing around I could hear the crowd, and they were rooting for the MINI.

“There’s always good support for the underdog, but I reckon we have impressed a large number of people today with our result.

“The whole experience was really good fun and I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow.” Paul said.

The Team Australia Speed Comparison will also be run on Friday and Saturday.

Team MINI’s next competition outing will be the slopes of Mt Buller in Victoria, for more information click