GT racing champion Dan Harper has been tipped for bigger and better things in the years to come by the boss of BMW Motorsport after impressing on his Hypercar test debut.
Harper rattled off more than 40 laps in the 650bhp BMW M Hybrid V8 when he got behind the controls at the FIA World Endurance Championship end-of-season ‘Rookie Test’.
The Hillsborough native made the trip to the Bahrain International Circuit with fellow BMW Junior Team programme graduate Max Hesse and MotoGP rider turned endurance driver Valentino Rossi.
Harper was hand-picked by Andreas Roos as reward for his title-winning British GT Championship GT3 displays last year, and success in this year’s GT World Challenge Europe Bronze Sprint Cup with Darren Leung.
All three prepared for the test by spending time on BMW Motorsport’s simulator in Munich, while Harper and Hesse both had prior experience of the car having contributed to development work.
Analysing their respective lap times around the 15 turn, 3.36-mile track over the course of the two sessions which totalled five hours, Roos admitted that he was impressed by what he had seen, particularly Harper who has quickly become a key player in BMW Motorsport’s global activities.
“It was a proud moment to see Dan and also Max standing next to each other at our Hypercar in Bahrain — almost five years after they first met at the BMW Junior Team welcome event,” he said.
“It has been quite a journey for them both since then, through all the different race car categories that BMW M Motorsport has to offer. From starting out in the BMW M240i Racing before moving to the BMW M4 GT4 and then the BMW M4 GT3 and now to the BMW M Hybrid V8.
“Dan did very well in the BMW M Hybrid V8 considering the fact that he had never driven a high-downforce car before.
“He is a great racing driver, and his successes including the British GT title as well as race wins on the Nordschleife and in the GT World Challenge Europe speak for themselves.
“His level of performance makes him a valuable member of each car crew he is with but I feel his development is far from over. I look forward to watching Dan grow further in the years to come,” he added.
In partnership with BMW Motorsport, 25-year-old Harper has made 75 race starts in propeller-badged cars, achieved nine victories and netted 19 podiums at meetings in both the UK and across Europe.
On getting to experience one of endurance racing’s top tier cars from the driving seat, Harper said: “I got in a couple of short sessions, not too many laps, but still, I learnt so much on the test day.
“Out on track, the brakes were the trickiest thing to get used to — but I got on well and I progressed a lot throughout the day. The BMW M Hybrid V8 is an absolutely awesome car.”