ANNAHILT racing driver Dan Harper was cruelly denied a podium finish in a heartbreaking conclusion to the 24 Hours of Spa, with a phenomenal performance across the race almost culminating in a top three result at the weekend.
Harper and his BMW M Motorsport team-mates Max Hesse and Augusto Farfus superbly fought back from falling a lap down overnight to put themselves in contention for the race win in the closing hours, however, a late puncture cost them dearly and ped them back to a sixth-place finish.
“We’re absolutely gutted,” said Harper.
“We really deserved to get a podium from the race, everyone put in a fantastic effort to fight back from difficult moments overnight and give ourselves a chance to win the race going into the closing hours.”
After brilliant front-running performances in both of his first two attempts at the race, Harper headed into the special centenary edition of the endurance classic determined to challenge for silverware to follow up his top three finish in the Nürburgring 24 Hours at the start of the month.
The trio entered the biggest GT3 race in the world as the early Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup points leaders following their stunning victory in the Paul Ricard season opener, putting them amongst the pre-race favourites in the hugely competitive 66 car entry.
Benefitting from the experience of the reigning Spa 24 Hours winners ROWE Racing, the crew made a strong start on Thursday as they fine-tuned
the set up on their Multibank Group backed BMW M4 GT3 through free practice and pre-qualifying.
That set them up well for qualifying, where each driver tackled a 15-minute session and the average of their combined times created the results sheet.
Great runs from all three of them ensured they finished inside the top 20 and secured a coveted spot in the Superpole shootout the next day.
Superpole saw the top 20 cars battle it out for pole position in a final session, with two flying laps per driver.
Hesse was in the cockpit of the ROWE Racing machine, with a good effort seeing him finish 13th fastest to put them as the highest placed BMW on the grid for the big race.
“Our pace was solid in the build-up to the race and Max got us a good qualifying result, but the BMW really came alive in race trim, particularly in the changeable weather conditions,” reflected Harper.
“It was a very difficult race to manage with the weather changes and the various full course yellow periods and safety car.”
A strong start to the race saw Farfus and then Harper produce solid opening stints to keep their BMW on the fringes of the top ten, before Hesse took over and guided them through a chaotic couple of hours that featured no less than five separate safety car periods.
As darkness rolled in and rain started to fall, Farfus used all his experience to keep their BMW on the tarmac and avoid incident.
Harper returned to the cockpit with six and-a-half hours on the clock, just as the rainfall reached its heaviest point and led to a lengthy three-hour spell behind the safety car.
Now in the depths of the night-time running, when action resumed Harper moved into the race lead for the first time.
There were some troubles in the early hours of the morning though, with a drive through penalty and a gamble on slick tyres that didn’t work-out ultimately putting them a lap down.
Some fantastic strategy calls from the ROWE Racing team combined with a quick pace from the three drivers though meant that by the time dawn broke, they had fought their way back up the order and got themselves back into the top ten.
Crucial moments in their pursuit of victory came around two-thirds distance with Harper and then Hesse behind the wheel, as a couple of safety car periods went in their favour and put them firmly into the mix for the race win.
A great stint for Farfus saw him lead the way for 90 minutes, despite the emergence of a steering problem.
“Unfortunately Augusto started feeling a problem with the steering when he was leading, and as that got worse, we just couldn’t match the pace of the top two in the closing hours,” said Harper.
“Then a couple of laps before the final scheduled pitstop, Max picked up a slow puncture.”
Exiting the pit lane with 63 minutes remaining of the race, and a maximum driver stint time of 62 minutes, they saw their podium hopes slip from their grasp as Hesse was forced to make a last-gasp trip to the pits to reset his stint clock.
That excruciating crawl down the long Spa pit lane cost them dearly, dropping them to sixth at the chequered flag.
“It’s a hard one to take, as there was literally a minute in it, but it’s one of those things out of our control,” explained Harper.
“We’re incredibly proud of our performance over the race. We were quick in all conditions, day and night, so there’s a lot of positives to take away no matter how gutted we are to miss out on the podium.”
He added: “Thank you to ROWE Racing, BMW M Motorsport, Augusto and Max for all their great work.”
The 2024 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup is next in action on the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit from July 26-28, part of a German double-header for Harper with the GTWC Sprint Cup returning a week prior at Hockenheim.