Dan Harper scores Brands Hatch win to take British GT title fight to finale

Seven weeks on from their last British GT appearance at Portimao, Harper, Leung and the Century Motorsport team returned to action knowing they needed a big result in Kent to keep their title aspirations alive going into the Donington Park finale next month.

Battling the heatwave as temperatures hit 30 degrees Celsius outside and almost 50 degrees inside the car, Leung finished a great third fastest in his ten-minute segment before Harper went fourth in his. Their combined efforts secured them second on the grid for the two-hour race on Sunday.

With a great starting position to work from, Harper was determined to see them maximise the opportunity ahead of them. A great opening stint from Leung saw him negotiate a pair of safety car periods and keep their BMW right in contention at the front of the field.As the duo worked their way through the GT4 traffic, Harper stayed on the offensive and a great run out of Hawthorns corner set him up for a bold move down the inside into Westfield.

A controlled, faultless drive over the remaining 29 minutes saw Harper keep Gunn at arms’ length throughout and secure a crucial second win of the season. In addition, he posted the fastest lap of the race and with it set the new GT3 race lap record for the Brands Hatch GP circuit.

Harper said: “We’re over the moon to take the victory. Coming into the weekend, this was exactly the result we needed to reduce the points deficit and keep ourselves in title contention for the season finale, so to achieve that is a fantastic feeling. “We are happy to be going to Donington Park with a shot at the championship. We’ll go there all guns blazing, give it everything and see what happens.” Harper now heads into the season finales of his two main race programmes for the 2023 season.