Is the mini designed for racing?

Is the mini designed for racing?
No. Not nowadays, anyway. Mini's of old were designed for racing. The chassis, body-kit and weight were designed so it would be superior on the rally track. However, Mini's have grown with the needs of their target market, which to be honest, is mostly women who work in the city and would like something pretty small and stylish. Compare the current models of the MINI with the original, and you will see a vast increase in size, weight, and of course price.
For example, the original Mini weighed 617 to 686 kg (1,360 to 1,512 lb), and was just 3.05 m (120.1 in) long and 1.40 m (55.1 in) wide. This lightness and smallness, combined with it's durability, helped it become a winner on the rally stages.
But the MINI's nowadays are much heavier, longer and wider, making stock MINI's pretty rubbish for the rally stage. The Gearbox isn't suited to rally stages, more for cities and freeways. The speed would be inferior to any specialist rally car, and the lack of a four wheel drive system would make the car quickly spin off. MINI mostly uses heavily modified Countryman's (MINI's Crossover-SUV) for rallies now.
So, to answer your question: Stock Mini's are made for city streets and motorways, therefore they would be extremely unsuited to rallies. The Mini's that MINI enter into the rallies are specifically designed for the stages, and so are much better over the stock equivalents.