Dan Harper relishes the roar of 150,000 raucous spectators at Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic
The city's streets are the venue for the fourth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the resumption of Harper's GTD Pro title hunt with Paul Miller Racing.
After the Laguna Seca meeting at Long Beach at the beginning of May, Detroit marks the second consecutive 100-minute sprint for Harper and German team-mate Max Hesse.
Both are vying for a solid result at the iconic 1.65-mile track, which has two of its 18 corners named after the automotive factories of Ford and Chrysler that are based nearby.
For Harper, this will be the first time he has competed there, with approximately 150,000 people comprising die-hard fans and casual spectators set to watch from the grandstands.
Interest levels have been heightened further as downtown Detroit is welcoming teams, cars and drivers from IndyCar — one of the country's most followed motorsport series.
'I am looking forward to Detroit,' admitted Harper. 'This is going to be my first time on a proper street circuit, so that is going to be an exciting new challenge to tackle. It will be a steep learning curve at the beginning, but I am confident I will adapt to the circuit quickly.
'Detroit is a big event in US motorsport with IMSA racing alongside IndyCar, so there is going to be a big buzz around the event, with lots of spectators attending — and I am really excited to be a part of it.
'The weather is looking hit or miss, so that could certainly make things interesting and add another layer to the challenge that awaits us.'
A total of 11 GTD Pro cars are set to line up on the grid for the sprint contest and, despite rounds one and three not going to plan for Harper and Hesse due to a no-fault accident at Daytona and an early drive-through penalty at Laguna Seca, a second-place finish at Sebring in April has given a glimpse of their race-winning potential.
'I'm looking forward to getting back to work with the Paul Miller Racing crew,' added the 24-year-old Hillsborough man, who is in action from 7.30pm UK time.
'We have consistently been amongst the fastest cars on the GTD Pro grid so far this season, and we showed at Sebring that we are capable of getting on the podium.
'It is just a shame that we have had issues — incidents and penalties — to contend with in the other two rounds, but everyone in the team is determined to continue clawing back points in the Championship so fingers crossed we have a strong weekend.'
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Dealing with Southampton heat showed Russell Martin can hack Rangers
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Read more: Opinion about the man who led the St Mary's Stadium outfit back into the Premier League via the end-of-season play-offs last year was sharply divided among fans of the Glasgow club. Many admitted they would have preferred Davide Ancelotti, Francesco Farioli or Steven Gerrard to succeed Philippe Clement. But Gunn was adamant that appointing Martin, who was sacked back in December following a disappointing run of results in the English top flight, would be no own goal by Rangers. 'It's hard to compare a promoted team going into the Premier League with a team like Rangers going into European games,' he said. 'But I think he showed what he can do as a manager, not only with Southampton but with Swansea as well. He took a team that wasn't expected to do much quite far into the Championship as well. 'I think it will be a positive thing for Rangers. But, obviously, the only thing that can bring those supporters round is probably him getting in the door and starting well. That's the only thing that can happen. "But Southampton were a tough team. We had a couple of good games against them. We saw the evolution of their team throughout the season. I think when we first played them, they were quite open. Then, when we played them again, they were a little bit more pragmatic. 'I think that shows a coach that can adapt and change the way his team plays. Watching his teams over the few years that he was there, I thought he did that. Even though some people probably said he was reluctant to change, I thought he did that quite well, especially in the Championship anyway. (Image: Andrew Matthews) "It is a difficult league to get out of. We had the pressure of them coming down as well. A lot of the teams find it quite hard. I was there at Southampton previously and I felt it. There was a lot of pressure on him and the team and he managed to deliver. 'I don't know if he's going to go to Rangers or not, but obviously he had a spell there as a player so he kind of knows the club a little bit. I think it would be a really good thing for the Rangers, to be fair.' Gunn always suspected that Martin, whose partner is former glamour model Lucy Pinder, who is a former member of the Green Party, who is a proponent of Buddhism and who is a vegan, was destined to move into management and his success with MK Dons, Swansea and Southampton in the past six years has not surprised him. 'I only worked with him as a player at Norwich,' he said. 'But he's a very intellectual guy. I went in there as a young goalkeeper and he helped me massively, even though he wasn't in the team every week and playing regularly. He was the captain of the club and he had good relationships with everyone in the dressing room. 'There were a few other players in that dressing room who were like that,' he said. 'Steven Naismith was there as well. But you can definitely tell on the pitch when you're playing with players who are going to go into management. They kind of start coaching whilst they're still playing, if you like, sort of organising on the pitch. Read more: 'He was one of them. But Russell wasn't just on the pitch, he was off the pitch as well, where he had close relationships with everyone. Even though, I wasn't a regular playing in the team, he was always on hand and always upbeat and a good person to go to. 'I watch him now on the television and can see the way he wants teams to play football and what his philosophy is. I really hope whatever he goes on to in his career is successful.' Gunn, who was released by Norwich at the end of last season, is eager to put a difficult season firmly behind him and is looking forward to featuring in both of the Scotland friendlies in the coming days and performing well for his country. 'The injuries have probably been the most challenging thing to me because I've not been injured too much in my career,' he said. 'Sometimes that's hard to deal with if you're not used to it. But I thought I dealt with it quite well. I came back, tried to come back stronger. 'Obviously, it's a different stage of my career now. I'm getting a little bit older and every year is different. From my point of view, I don't really look too much into the past. I'm more excited for the future.'
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
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Dealing with Southampton heat showed Russell Martin can hack Rangers
"I remember my debut,' he said following a national team training session at Lesser Hampden ahead of the friendly international against Iceland in Mount Florida on Friday night. 'But I can't remember him scoring against me, no. Did he? We won't mention that, because he's a good guy.' Yet, Gunn had no problem recalling what a fine footballer, inspirational leader and cerebral thinker on the game Martin, who had just been tipped to take over as manager at Rangers when he arrived at his press conference, was when they had played together at Carrow Road at the start of his professional career. The difficulties which Norwich experienced against the Swansea City and Southampton sides the former Scotland centre-half managed were also fresh in his mind. Read more: Opinion about the man who led the St Mary's Stadium outfit back into the Premier League via the end-of-season play-offs last year was sharply divided among fans of the Glasgow club. Many admitted they would have preferred Davide Ancelotti, Francesco Farioli or Steven Gerrard to succeed Philippe Clement. But Gunn was adamant that appointing Martin, who was sacked back in December following a disappointing run of results in the English top flight, would be no own goal by Rangers. 'It's hard to compare a promoted team going into the Premier League with a team like Rangers going into European games,' he said. 'But I think he showed what he can do as a manager, not only with Southampton but with Swansea as well. He took a team that wasn't expected to do much quite far into the Championship as well. 'I think it will be a positive thing for Rangers. But, obviously, the only thing that can bring those supporters round is probably him getting in the door and starting well. That's the only thing that can happen. "But Southampton were a tough team. We had a couple of good games against them. We saw the evolution of their team throughout the season. I think when we first played them, they were quite open. Then, when we played them again, they were a little bit more pragmatic. 'I think that shows a coach that can adapt and change the way his team plays. Watching his teams over the few years that he was there, I thought he did that. Even though some people probably said he was reluctant to change, I thought he did that quite well, especially in the Championship anyway. (Image: Andrew Matthews) "It is a difficult league to get out of. We had the pressure of them coming down as well. A lot of the teams find it quite hard. I was there at Southampton previously and I felt it. There was a lot of pressure on him and the team and he managed to deliver. 'I don't know if he's going to go to Rangers or not, but obviously he had a spell there as a player so he kind of knows the club a little bit. I think it would be a really good thing for the Rangers, to be fair.' Gunn always suspected that Martin, whose partner is former glamour model Lucy Pinder, who is a former member of the Green Party, who is a proponent of Buddhism and who is a vegan, was destined to move into management and his success with MK Dons, Swansea and Southampton in the past six years has not surprised him. 'I only worked with him as a player at Norwich,' he said. 'But he's a very intellectual guy. I went in there as a young goalkeeper and he helped me massively, even though he wasn't in the team every week and playing regularly. He was the captain of the club and he had good relationships with everyone in the dressing room. 'There were a few other players in that dressing room who were like that,' he said. 'Steven Naismith was there as well. But you can definitely tell on the pitch when you're playing with players who are going to go into management. They kind of start coaching whilst they're still playing, if you like, sort of organising on the pitch. Read more: 'He was one of them. But Russell wasn't just on the pitch, he was off the pitch as well, where he had close relationships with everyone. Even though, I wasn't a regular playing in the team, he was always on hand and always upbeat and a good person to go to. 'I watch him now on the television and can see the way he wants teams to play football and what his philosophy is. I really hope whatever he goes on to in his career is successful.' Gunn, who was released by Norwich at the end of last season, is eager to put a difficult season firmly behind him and is looking forward to featuring in both of the Scotland friendlies in the coming days and performing well for his country. 'The injuries have probably been the most challenging thing to me because I've not been injured too much in my career,' he said. 'Sometimes that's hard to deal with if you're not used to it. But I thought I dealt with it quite well. I came back, tried to come back stronger. 'Obviously, it's a different stage of my career now. I'm getting a little bit older and every year is different. From my point of view, I don't really look too much into the past. I'm more excited for the future.'
The Herald Scotland
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