Mini is building a new JCW GP for 2020

Mini has confirmed it will build a new John Cooper Works GP for 2020. To anyone who has ever driven earlier iterations of the GP Minis, this is good news.

The confirmation comes off the back of Mini’s LA show bundle which includes a few US premieres of some special editions that you’re not interested in. Mini hasn’t detailed anything more than the one you are interested in, other than citing its 2017 JCW GP concept, pictured above.

That concept was essentially a design study, but what a design. Something like a cross between an i8 and a Cooper, it was all flying buttresses and louvred wheelarches and a neat little rear wing.

All of the concept’s bodywork was made from carbon fibre, sticking to the GP’s history of lightweighting, along with fancy wheels, diffusers, and a roll cage in place of the rear seats. Mini didn’t specify a power output for the 2017 concept, but bear in mind the current JCW delivers 228bhp from its 2.0-litre four-pot engine.

Indeed, the first GP is a bit of a bargain hero – as we’ve detailed here. It’s follow-up too, was a cracker. We’re expecting big things from this little Mini. More as we have it...