Minden, Ontario -- With a certain cosmic justice, a new MINI was rallied for the 1st time in Canada on the same weekend as the Monte Carlo Rally- a rally the classic Mini won outright several times in the late 60's - took place across the Atlantic.

Two AM Rallysport took their Yokohama sponsored 2002 MINI Cooper S to the "Snowy Safari Rally" this past weekend to see if the new MINI also had what it takes to be a rally winner. Waterloo based driver/owner Andrew Miller delivers the verdict, "This car is a fantastic rally car! Turns on a dime, soaks up the bumps and just works well in all situations." Conditions for the rally were at their toughest, 4 Cm of fresh snow and more falling throughout the 10-hour overnight rally meant traction was at a premium. When all was settled the team came out 6th over-all and Top 2 wheel drive car.

Co-Driver Ian Macarthur from Mississauga explains their place. "Even though we finished off the over-all podium we're quite pleased with the result. This sort of snow has the feel of satin sheets so we're always working hard for traction. I'm happy we were able to compete with so many AWD cars."

In fact the team was running in a strong 2nd over-all before "sliding off the bed" so to speak, landing lightly into a snow bank and having to wait 5 min for the next car to come along and give them a tug back on the road.

The team choose this round of the winter rally circuit at a shakedown for their assault on the granddaddy of Canadian winter rallies the "Subaru Ontario Winter Rally" taking place on Feb. 15.

Miller looks forward to the event, "The SOWR will be the big event for us, the competition will be fierce. Now that we know how the car and the tires perform -wonderfully- we're really looking forward to this one and are going to go for the outright win."

Winter rally is a timed sport where teams compete against the clock to try and follow a prescribed route over twisty back roads at an average speed. Teams who arrive late or early at random checkpoints throughout the night are assessed penalty points. Winners often have less than one minute of penalties over 10 hours of competition. Two AM Rallysport competes with the help of their sponsor, Yokohama tire Canada.