BMW M Motorsport works driver Dan Harper and team-mate Darren Leung have been crowned the 2024 Bronze class drivers’ champions in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup after a supreme double-podium performance in the final round at Barcelona this past weekend (12-13 October).
Harper, Leung and Century Motorsport have made it two title successes in two seasons together, following on from their British GT Championship victory in 2023, after a fantastic season that has featured two wins and six podium finishes in their BMW M4 GT3.
While Harper and Leung headed into the season finale with a 9.5-point lead at the top of the Bronze class standings, the Paradine Competition crew would face a big battle in Spain with no less than six cars in mathematical contention after a close-fought season of competition. The talented duo got up to speed around the 2.89-mile Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during free practice and pre-qualifying on Friday, however they found themselves lower down the timesheets than hoped on a track that suited some of the rival machinery more than their BMW.
Harper endured a frustrating qualifying session on Saturday morning, losing a lap time to track limits that would have put him on the fringes of the top ten overall. Instead, in a session of fine margins between the competitive 31-car grid, the Northern Irishman would instead line-up 26th on the grid.
The opening one-hour race turned out to be one of the strangest of the season, with over 50 minutes spent behind the safety car. After avoiding a large incident around him at the first corner, Harper spent the rest of his stint under the caution period, during which torrential rain started to fall. Pitting once to swap from dry to wet tyres, he was back in the pitbox soon after to hand over to his team-mate. Losing track position after being slowed by a car on slick tyres on his out-lap, Leung would sit fifth in class entering a final three lap run to the chequered flag.
Whilst on course to lose points to their two main title rivals at that point, the drama continued in the sprint finish as those contenders both hit trouble. Leung drove superbly to keep the BMW on track in the treacherous conditions though and secured them a crucial second-place class finish. That result meant Harper and Leung held an increased 12-point lead into the final race of the season, meaning that a top six finish would be enough to secure the title. Leung boosted their chances of success with a great qualifying performance on Sunday morning, finishing fourth fastest in class.
Leung started the race and stayed out of trouble during a frenetic opening lap to settle into third place, right behind the only crew that could deprive them of the title, the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of familiar foes Sandy Mitchell and Rob Collard. Leung held the #991 BMW in third place throughout his stint, with Harper emerging in the same position. With clear space around him, the 23-year-old star put in a flawless drive to bring the BMW home in third position to secure championship glory for the second year in a row.
Daniel Harper: “We’re absolutely over the moon. To bring home a second title in two years racing with Darren, Paradine and Century feels pretty special, and is a testament to the hard work and expertise of everyone involved in this project. After our success in British GT, we were excited to take on the challenge of European competition together. The Bronze category has been incredibly competitive this year and it’s been far from easy, but we kept pushing to get the points and podiums we needed. We were on the back foot after qualifying on Saturday, but luck was in our favour in treacherous conditions and we made the late progress needed in race one. Darren made a great start on Sunday to get us into the position we needed, and for me it was just a case of bringing it home. A huge thank you to everyone at Paradine Competition, Century Motorsport and BMW M Motorsport for their effort in making this possible. Time will tell as to what 2025 brings, but hopefully we can go racing together again and challenge for more success.”
Harper’s focus now turns to the final round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup next month (28-30 November), which sees him reunite with Max Hesse, Augusto Farfus and ROWE Racing to compete in the 6 Hours of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
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