“It was a big choice from him because he could have had a lot more experienced factory drivers, but in the end, he went with me, gave me the opportunity and I think his trust in me just grew and grew.”
Dan Harper’s name might have been one unfamiliar to some readers prior to this season, the 2019 Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion having plied his trade successfully in Europe over recent years, which led him to becoming a BMW factory driver. But put alongside Am driver Darren Leung aboard Century Motorsport’s BMW M4, Harper took British GT3 by storm and the pair took the title in their first season in the championship.
The achievement was made even more impressive by Leung having only made one GT3 appearance before 2023, winning on his debut at last season’s Donington Park season finale, while 22-year-old Harper had never worked directly alongside an Am driver. And yet their partnership gelled from the beginning and was the foundation for their success.
“It was my first year working in a Pro-Am pairing and having the responsibility of not only developing the car for the team but also developing Darren,” says Harper. “Also, I hadn’t raced on the UK circuits since 2019 so there were a lot of things that needed to click.
“But as soon as they did, I would say around the mid-point of the year, then we didn’t finish one race outside the top six. So that was putting us in the right place and then the last weekend just worked out.”
During that weekend at Donington Park, both Leung and Harper put in arguably their best drives of the season when it mattered most, having headed into the event 13 points behind in the standings. Leung led from pole, only for safety cars to negate his lead, which dropped Harper down to 13th after the pitstops. But the Northern Irishman scythed his way up the order to an incredible second by the flag, which was more than enough for the title.
It was reminiscent of his drive during the three-hour race at Silverstone earlier in the year, where a washed-out qualifying meant the pair started 18th – times having been taken from FP2 when they suffered mechanical issues. Overtakes on title rival Jonny Adam and then race leader Sandy Mitchell in the final stint – two former champions in British GT, no less – underlined Harper’s prowess.
Source: Autosport