Prodrive rubbishes Mini split rumours

There had been reports in the media that BMW Motorsport wanted to end its contract with Prodrive following an acrimonious period which had left both sides bickering over the funding for the factory John Cooper Works WRCs.

It had been suggested that BMW and Prodrive would part company on Friday, with the potential for the Munich firm to take the World Rally Championship programme in-house.

Taylor said: "That's news to me. There's no question of that that, no question at all. The team is on its way to Sweden for the pre-event test as we speak. Mini remains committed to the programme and to supporting customers. We all want to see the Mini John Cooper Works WRC out there on the stages and that's what we will see ' with Prodrive running the cars on Rally Sweden next week."

Taylor also pointed to the strength of the team's start to the year, with Dani Sordo collecting a third podium from seven starts on last month's Monte Carlo Rally opener.

"The start we had in Monte Carlo was fantastic," he said, "and we look forward to continuing that level of performance next week and into the season beyond."

Sordo and his team-mate for the Karlstad-based event, former Junior World Rally Champion Patrik Sandell, will test in Sweden later this week.