The forthcoming MINI John Cooper Works GP is slated for debut in 2020, though for now the brand has released images of the range-topping three-door hatch ahead of its launch. Production for the JCW GP will be limited to 3,000 units, and it has been comfirmed by the company to have more than 300 hp courtesy of a 2.0 litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine.
We’ve already seen the MINI JCW GP from spy images ahead of this unveiling, which had revealed a production body albeit one covered in camouflage foil not unlike the one seen here but in yellow. The very imposing bodywork has been carried over here, where the protruding wheelhouse extensions over each wheel appear to float clear of the body.
The front end is dressed in a front bumper sporting a deep front spoiler and large air intakes as seen on the earlier development car, while the rear end similarly boasts of a large, split rear wing atop the tailgate and a pair of centrally-mounted exhaust outlets within a matching rear bumper. Of course, the Union Jack tail lamps from the current-generation MINI features here as well.
The aforementioned over-300 hp powerplant is likely to be the B48 unit which powers fellow BMW Group stablemate, the BMW X2 M35i, though it remains to be seen whether or not the MINI will also come with the SUV’s all-wheel-drive layout, or its eight-speed automatic transmission, for that matter. The smaller Brit is also likely to improve upon the X2 M35i’s 0-100 km/h sprint time of 4.9 seconds.
Also likely to change ahead of its market debut next year are the wheels, which are currently a set of rather plain-looking five-spoke items. These will be part of a host of chassis tweaks specific to this John Cooper Works GP variant, which will include ‘model-specific suspension technology’.
MINI also hints at the JCW GP’s performance at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, noting that the prototype vehicle has run a lap of the circuit in less than eight minutes, with further testing to complete. The latest Renault Megane RS Trophy-R is the current production FWD car chart-topper with a time of seven minutes 40.1 seconds, usurping the previous front-driven ‘King of the ‘Ring’, the FK8 Honda Civic Type R, which clocked a time of seven minutes 43.8 seconds back in 2017.
It has been two years since the John Cooper Works GP Concept first appeared to offer a hint of what the range-topping, three-door MINI could be. Do you like how the car has developed between then and now?
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