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Belfast Telegraph
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Belfast Telegraph
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.'
Belfast Telegraph
10-05-2025
- Automotive
- Belfast Telegraph
Dan Harper pledges to ‘give it everything' to get GTD Pro title bid back on track
Part of the Paul Miller Racing Team, the Hillsborough driver has impressed at the controls of BMW Motorsport's M4 GT3 Evo in the opening salvos of the stateside competition. He clinched a first-ever podium result at March's 12 Hours of Sebring with Max Hesse and Jesse Krohn along with a full quota of IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points. That went some way to make up for the disappointment the trio had to endure at January's curtain-raising Rolex 24 at Daytona where damage sustained during a multi-car incident that was not of their own making meant their push for a podium result ended in the pits. 'I am really looking forward to getting back to IMSA racing this weekend,' said Harper, who arrives at the venue fresh from winning April's Silverstone 500 with Darren Leung and Paradine Competition. 'We had a couple of days testing at the track recently, and I have to say it is a pretty cool place. Historically, it has not been the strongest one for the BMW, but we have worked hard throughout the test, and by the end of it, we feel like we got the car in a good window. 'We know we need to regain the points we lost at the first race at Daytona, so we will carry the momentum from Sebring and give it absolutely everything over the weekend. It is a shorter race this time and sure to be full of action, so we'll get stuck in for a good result.' At only two hours, 40 minutes long, Krohn is sitting this round out, leaving Harper and Hesse to contest Sunday's meeting which gets under way at 8pm BST. On top of an impressive Silverstone 500 display, Harper has been in red-hot form so far in 2025, triumphing at the Dubai 24 Hours and coming runner-up at the opening round of the GT World Challenge series at Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France in April. Fellow Ulsterman Charlie Eastwood won't be making the trip to Laguna Seca with DXDT Racing, however, due to it clashing with the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. He is being reunited with TF Sport for the third World Endurance Championship fixture, which takes place on Saturday afternoon from 1pm BST and once again will host a capacity grid. Meanwhile, Jon Armstrong continues his FIA European Rally Championship campaign in Hungary, with the Kesh native expecting the durability of his Ford Fiesta Rally2 to be thoroughly examined. The M-Sport Ford driver has compared the stages of the gravel fixture to those 3,500 miles away in Kenya. 'It is going to be massively tough,' admitted Armstrong, who is the No.9 seed with co-driving team-mate Shane Byrne. 'The only real way to describe it is like a mini-Safari. 'Okay, you don't have the soft sand called fesh-fesh, but there is a lot of undulation in terms of jumps into crests and dips and you have bedrock in sections which hurts tyres.' Among the ERC1 (Rally2) line-up are six winners of European Rally Championship events, including three that have conquered Rally Hungary in the past – Mads Ostberg (Citroen C3 Rally2) and Skoda Fabis RS Rally2 exponents Simone Tempestini and Frigyes Turan.
