Dan Harper Stars At Hockenheim With Perfect Pair Of Sprint Class Wins
BMW M Motorsport works driver Dan Harper and team-mate Darren Leung have moved into the Bronze championship lead in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup after scoring a stunning pair of class wins at Hockenheim this past weekend (19-21 July).
Two months on from a brilliant Bronze class podium finish on their Sprint Cup debut at Misano, 2023 British GT champion pairing Harper and Leung returned to action determined to challenge for more class silverware in their Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.
With previous experience of the Hockenheim circuit from a maiden outing there in the GTWC Endurance Cup two years ago, the Northern Irishman was able to hit the ground running during pre-event testing on Thursday and then the official free practice sessions the following day.
As temperatures soared in Germany, Harper put in a good performance in Saturday’s qualifying session to go 13th fastest overall and fourth in the Bronze ranks, putting them right in the mix for a trophy in the opening one-hour race of the weekend that afternoon.
The 23-year-old rising star was in the hot seat for the start of the race and perfectly positioned his BMW through the frenetic opening couple of corners to gain no less than six places and settle into seventh position overall, right on the tail of the Bronze-leading McLaren.
Harper quickly picked off the McLaren into the Spitzkehre hairpin on lap three to seize the class advantage, before lapping as the fastest car on circuit as he pulled off a couple of near-identical moves into the hairpin in the next few minutes to work his way up to fourth place overall. Crucially building his class lead in the process, he then caught up with the two cars ahead and enjoyed some thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing with them. An impressive switchback move exiting the hairpin late into his stint got him third, his tenth place gained overall across the stint.
Harper’s stunning progress ensured that once their mid-race pitstop was complete, Leung took to the track with a healthy gap to the next Bronze competitor. A faultless performance from there saw him maintain that advantage to the chequered flag with ease to secure their maiden class victory.
A frustrating start to Sunday saw an unfortunate technical problem hamper Leung’s challenge in qualifying and put their BMW back in ninth in class on the race two grid. With the issue fixed, Leung replicated his team-mate’s lap one heroics to charge forward nine places overall.
Crucially he had propelled himself up to second in class, with the leader in touching distance. He held that position through to the pitstop window, with a fantastic stop from the Century Motorsport team ensuring Harper returned to the track in the class lead. With his regular British GT sparring rival Sandy Mitchell hot on his heels, Harper knew he needed to go on the offensive. He did exactly that with another characteristically brilliant charge up the order, pulling off some eye-catching overtaking moves as he rose from 22nd overall to 11th at the finish.
That completed a dream double victory for Harper, Leung and the Century Motorsport team, with the breakthrough weekend meaning they hold an 11.5 point championship lead heading into the next Sprint Cup event at Magny-Cours in France next month (23-25 August).
Daniel Harper: “It’s been a brilliant weekend. To score our first class win in the Sprint Cup was a great feeling, so to then win again on Sunday was incredible. We really couldn’t have asked for much more and it’s a big haul of points to help our championship challenge. The race results are a testament to the hard work of the team leading up to the weekend, making progress through testing and free practice to get the car in a good window. The car came alive in the races and the pace was great from start to finish. The starts of the races were pretty chaotic, but fortunately on both occasions we were able to stay out of trouble and jump up the order. I really enjoyed getting my elbows out and making some moves, while credit to Darren, he drove superbly in both races. Roll on Magny-Cours next!”
Two months on from a brilliant Bronze class podium finish on their Sprint Cup debut at Misano, 2023 British GT champion pairing Harper and Leung returned to action determined to challenge for more class silverware in their Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.
With previous experience of the Hockenheim circuit from a maiden outing there in the GTWC Endurance Cup two years ago, the Northern Irishman was able to hit the ground running during pre-event testing on Thursday and then the official free practice sessions the following day.
As temperatures soared in Germany, Harper put in a good performance in Saturday’s qualifying session to go 13th fastest overall and fourth in the Bronze ranks, putting them right in the mix for a trophy in the opening one-hour race of the weekend that afternoon.
The 23-year-old rising star was in the hot seat for the start of the race and perfectly positioned his BMW through the frenetic opening couple of corners to gain no less than six places and settle into seventh position overall, right on the tail of the Bronze-leading McLaren.
Harper quickly picked off the McLaren into the Spitzkehre hairpin on lap three to seize the class advantage, before lapping as the fastest car on circuit as he pulled off a couple of near-identical moves into the hairpin in the next few minutes to work his way up to fourth place overall. Crucially building his class lead in the process, he then caught up with the two cars ahead and enjoyed some thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing with them. An impressive switchback move exiting the hairpin late into his stint got him third, his tenth place gained overall across the stint.
Harper’s stunning progress ensured that once their mid-race pitstop was complete, Leung took to the track with a healthy gap to the next Bronze competitor. A faultless performance from there saw him maintain that advantage to the chequered flag with ease to secure their maiden class victory.
A frustrating start to Sunday saw an unfortunate technical problem hamper Leung’s challenge in qualifying and put their BMW back in ninth in class on the race two grid. With the issue fixed, Leung replicated his team-mate’s lap one heroics to charge forward nine places overall.
Crucially he had propelled himself up to second in class, with the leader in touching distance. He held that position through to the pitstop window, with a fantastic stop from the Century Motorsport team ensuring Harper returned to the track in the class lead. With his regular British GT sparring rival Sandy Mitchell hot on his heels, Harper knew he needed to go on the offensive. He did exactly that with another characteristically brilliant charge up the order, pulling off some eye-catching overtaking moves as he rose from 22nd overall to 11th at the finish.
That completed a dream double victory for Harper, Leung and the Century Motorsport team, with the breakthrough weekend meaning they hold an 11.5 point championship lead heading into the next Sprint Cup event at Magny-Cours in France next month (23-25 August).
Daniel Harper: “It’s been a brilliant weekend. To score our first class win in the Sprint Cup was a great feeling, so to then win again on Sunday was incredible. We really couldn’t have asked for much more and it’s a big haul of points to help our championship challenge. The race results are a testament to the hard work of the team leading up to the weekend, making progress through testing and free practice to get the car in a good window. The car came alive in the races and the pace was great from start to finish. The starts of the races were pretty chaotic, but fortunately on both occasions we were able to stay out of trouble and jump up the order. I really enjoyed getting my elbows out and making some moves, while credit to Darren, he drove superbly in both races. Roll on Magny-Cours next!”
Harper is racing again in Germany this weekend (26-28 July), heading to the Nürburgring for the latest round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with ROWE Racing, Max Hesse and Augusto Farfus.
Images from MRW Motorsport.
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