The 2012 MINI Cooper Coupe has made its debut in each of its Cooper, Cooper S, and John Cooper Works trim levels, and we’ve even had a chance to bring you a first drive report of the car.

However, its open-top cousin, the long-awaited 2012 MINI Cooper Roadster, is still nowhere to be seen, although a 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show debut is now looking more and more likely.

While the L.A. event isn’t scheduled to kick off for another month, we have a new spy video featuring a very lightly camouflaged example of the new MINI Cooper Roadster running some hot laps at the Nurburgring race track in Germany.

Click here to watch the spy video in full via our YouTube page.

One interesting tidbit about the new MINI Cooper Roadster is a rumor that it will come with a simple manually operated folding soft-top, a design that should ensure the car remains light and affordable. Pricing shouldn’t deviate substantially from the Coupe’s $22,000 starting figure.

The engine lineup should also remain identical to the one in the Coupe, meaning 121, 181, and 208 horsepower versions.

For more details on the 2012 MINI Cooper Roadster, click here for previous spy shots report. And for a preview of what the new car will look like, click here for our report on the near-production concept version.