The GP was one of the featured cars in this recent Motor Trend article:
Which is the best-handling car in the land? Car magazines have been answering that question for a half-century … Step one in any such venture is to select the contestants. To shed some meaningful light on the topic of dynamic handling, we decided to invite top-handling cars representing the four major driveline layouts-front engine, front drive; front engine, rear drive; front engine, all-wheel drive; and mid- or rear engine. We brainstormed a list of 32 great-driving cars, our eight favorites in each category, then combed through past road-test data, reread our subjective reviews, and winnowed that list down to 10 finalists:
BMW 335i, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Honda Civic Si, Honda S2000, Lotus Exige S, Mazdaspeed3 GT, Mini Cooper S JC Works GP, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR, Porsche 911 GT3, Porsche Cayman S
The GP didn’t win – unsurprisingly – but they wrote some nice things about it:
ANGELELLI emerged from the Mini smiling. “This car makes me laugh, it’s such a little sports car; a little racing car.” Of the three front-drivers, it corners the flattest, exhibiting excellent traction and steering effort that builds naturally with cornering loads. Power is modest, but the gearing is perfect …
As a smile generator, the Mini Cooper S JCW GP is tough to beat. After all, it’s a cartoon of a sports car. Everything is exaggerated for effect-acceleration, braking, cornering, and bumps in the road. There’s almost no pitch or roll, ever, but a tall seating position and limited side bolstering had all voters hanging onto the wheel for dear life. Astute stability-control programming keeps the car on track with minimal intrusion, contributing to a third-place ranking in chassis control, fifth overall
And the winner: Porsche 911 GT3 (which costs more than three GPs!)
GPMINI.net 
America’s? Hum I think I see a Corvette way in the back. What a sad state the USA auto makers are in.
You know, look at those cars… what stands out… the MINI. It doesn’t look like the rest of the low slung, albeit nice, regiment. Pretty kool.
=:¬)
On a race track where power is rewarded, which is most, that corvette will drop anything except the gt3, and there you’ll have a race, for around 50% of the gt3 cost. USA auto makers are in sad shape, but the corvette is pretty hot on the track.
fwiw, the lotuses eat up the twisty tracks.
Well GP might not be the top performer but she is for sure the best looking car in the bunch ahead of the Exige.