Ravaglia Spearheads Cooper Car Co. Nurburgring Challenge

Italian Touring car and endurance racing ace, Roberto Ravaglia will  spearhead the driving talent, assembled by the Cooper Car Company for its assault on the Nurburgring 24 Hrs race this weekend (June 12/13). Following the team’s solid 8th in class debut in the race last year, the enhanced two-car - MINI Cooper S Works - entry is aiming higher for the 2004 epic. 

The Cooper Car Company team’s primary objective for 2003 was to finish; this year, the bar has been raised and a rigorous testing programme has been put in place, on a specially-developed engine, to make sure the cars do not just last the course, but do so competitively in their A4 class. The pace-setting Volvo S60 and BMW M3 will prove challenging targets but are both locked in the team’s sights.

Ravaglia, now principal of the Ravaglia Motorsport ETCC team, has previously won the Spa-Francorchamps 24 hrs race, finished third at Le Mans and is a former World, European, German and Italian Touring Car Champion. His experience will be invaluable to an inexperienced, but highly charged, team throughout the automotive marathon.

A team of 10 mechanics will accompany the team to Germany, to nurse the hardware through 24 hours of out-and-out attrition.

The two Works MINI Cooper Ss will be amongst a field of 210 cars starting the race on June 12, around a route, which comprises both the infamous Nordschleife and the newer Grand Prix circuit, a combined driving challenge through the Eifel Forest of 25.4km.

As well as the main event at 3pm on Saturday, June 12, MINI will be playing a major role in the race build-up with a packed grid of red Cooper Clubsport S’s entertaining the grandstands in Round 2 of  the new MINI Challenge – a joint venture between John Cooper Motorsport and MINI Germany – before 10am.

As well as the Nurburgring entry, the John Cooper Challenge in the UK and the new German MINI Challenge, Coopers supply works kits and motor sport parts to a number of other fledgling MINI race series, including championships in Belgium, Bahrain and Scotland, and a street race in South Africa. Mike Cooper is thrilled with the resurgence of the John Cooper name in the motor sport arena:

‘The success of the John Cooper Challenge has really fired our ambition to put the Cooper name back where it belongs in motor sport, both domestically and internationally.’