TOUR of Mull winner Daniel Harper looks set to make the switch to a BMW Mini Cooper for this year's event.

Harper, engineering director of Minisport of Padiham, drove the famous car -- subject of a documentary on Men and Motors earlier this year -- on the Pendragon Stages, finishing an encouraging 13th overall.

The all-tarmac event, which used Lowther Park and the Warcop army ranges in Cumbria, proved ideal as a 'shakedown' test prior to October's Mull Rally.

Harper and co-driver Chris Campbell won the Tour of Mull -- acknowledged as one of the toughest club events on the British calendar -- in 2002 driving a Mitsubishi Evo 6.

"It was really just to get some mileage in the car and get Dan used to driving competitively again as he hasn't been out since Mull last year," explained Campbell.

"The weather was changeable all day, one minute the roads were bone dry the next minute they were awash, which made life interesting to say the least.

"The spectator stage at Lowther Park was like an ice rink, we drove round at 30mph and still nearly went off on every bend!

"But the car ran really well all day, and no bits dropped off it, so we feel a lot more confident.

"The only issues to sort out are the wet weather tyres and the rear suspension set-up. We spoke to a few people who saw us and said it looked very soft, and certainly from inside it was bucking about a bit.

"Considering Dan was probably only driving at 75 per cent, looking after the car and making sure we got to the end, we were well pleased with the result."

Oswaldtwistle navigator Phil Peak teamed up with Yorkshireman Luke Pinder for a first-time outing on the Pendragon, finishing first F2 car and 21st overall in their Vauxhall Astra.

Peak, who is regular in the Peugeot 205 Challenge, was invited to join the team after Pinder's regular co-driver pulled out owing to prior commitments.

"I'm keen to do any event to gain more experience and, as I hadn't competed on the Pendragon before, I took up Luke's offer," he said.

"Luke only has limited experience of tarmac, but even with an underpowered car in gravel trim, he showed a lot of potential.

"We suffered from a distinct lack of grip in the early stages, and with only intermediate tyres available, the car was a handful to say the least.

"But as the roads started to dry, they seemed to work better and Luke's confidence in the car improved.

"By the end of the day our only problem was being held up by the more powerful cars we caught up with in the stages!"

Overall victory went to William Stobart, who took his first-ever win on the Pendragon Stages, driving the Eddie Stobart-backed Ford Focus WRC.