Dan Harper looks to build momentum after breakthrough victory as Championship chase moves to Canada
The pair arrive in buoyant mood having finally ended their run of disappointing results in the North American competition at June's Six Hours of the Glen where they were victorious in the GTD Pro class. They had to do it the hard way, however, with a pitstop infringement attracting a hefty 60-second stop and go penalty appearing to end their dream of a podium once again.
Incredibly, they fought their way through a capacity field to seal a superb win and reignite their title hopes in the process, moving to within 122 points of current leaders Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia — winners of the support category around the 1.645-mile venue 12 months ago – and just 70 shy of second-placed Klaus Bachler and Laurin Heinrich.
'It is a great feeling to have got our first IMSA win under our belts last time out, and now we need to keep the ball rolling and carry that momentum forward. We need another big result this weekend to continue clawing back the points for our Championship challenge,' said Harper, who will leave Canada straight afterwards and travel to Italy for next weekend's GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup meeting at Misano in north east Italy.
'I am looking forward to getting back to IMSA duty at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park — it is a new circuit to me and we have not had the chance to test there, so we know it is going to be a big challenge going into the event, but still, it's one that I'm really excited for.
'I have watched some footage of the circuit and it looks like a fast one, similar to Watkins Glen, so that should be fun. The priority for me is getting some laps under my belt, get up to speed around the track, and push forward from there with Max and Paul Miller Racing,' the 24-year-old added.
A total of 35 cars makes up the grid for Sunday's race, 10 of which are from GTD Pro, with who lines up where being determined by qualifying which starts at 8.55pm UK time on Saturday.
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