Dan Harper thrilled to see gamble pay off after clinching second Silverstone success
Starting fifth, they placed their faith in an unconventional driver changeover strategy that relied on safety car periods and Full Course Yellows coming to their rescue, and not being held up by back markers, or those competitors taking part in slower GT4 machinery.
The approach left them out of sequence with the rest of the GT3 field and meant Harper had to play catch-up for most of his stint.
However, the 24-year-old produced yet another trademark driving masterclass, and with 26 minutes remaining, he moved into the lead as Kiern Jewiss served a drive-through penalty in his 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG.
A nail-biting game of cat and mouse ensued, with Harper having to go on the defensive in his BMW M4 GT3 Evo in an effort to thwart Jewiss and his barrage of overtake manoeuvres.
Despite being nose to tail as they started the final 3.661-mile lap, Harper did just enough to take the chequered flag first – by six-tenths of a second – and spark wild celebrations.
'The strategy was a gamble at the beginning – but we had seen in qualifying and Darren's opening stint that we weren't going to win this race on pace alone, so had to try something different,' reflected Harper, who returns to action at Laguna Seca in under a fortnight's time.
'The guys made that decision and it didn't always look like it was going to pay off, but we got some luck in our favour, which is something you will always need in a race like this.
'I knew it was Kiern behind me, and having raced with him during our Ginetta days, I was fully aware of what he is capable of.
'I know how good he is, so I was really under pressure.
'The guys in the garage were updating me every lap on the gap – I could see him coming.
'I was just praying that the GT4 cars would be kind to me – and on this occasion they were.
'I knew I just had to make the car as wide as possible whenever he got close to me,' he added.
'I think the BMW's strength is its ability to defend against other cars and first was not something I was going to give up easily.'
Meanwhile, Chris Smiley opened his Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship account at Donington Park in strong fashion by scoring Independent wins in races two and three having brought his Restart Racing Hyundai home 10th overall earlier in the day.
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