A momentary lapse in concentration by a rival GT3 car at the final round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup in Saudi Arabia scuppered Dan Harper’s shot at a title double.
After an hour of racing at the 3.85-mile Jeddah street circuit, the No.85 Lamborghini run by the Imperiale Racing Team ran into the back of Harper seconds after a full-course yellow took effect.
The incident – which shattered the right-rear suspension on the BMW M4 GT3 – occurred moments after Harper had climbed behind the wheel of the No.998 ROWE Racing car for his first stint of the meeting.
Harper and team-mates Max Hesse and Augusto Farfus were aiming to secure the Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ crowns at the six-hour event, which started in the light and concluded in the darkness.
Farfus – from a starting position of 11th on the grid – quickly clawed back ground on the opening lap as he crossed the start/finish line in eighth and gained a further spot to hand over the reins to the Northern Irishman in seventh.
However, that early good work came to nought when Phillipe Denes failed to react to the yellow flags being brought out, with this resulting in a huge shunt that forced Harper to crawl back to the pits.
Dan Harper in action at the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup in Saudi Arabia
The damage was inspected by mechanics and, with this proving too big a job to fix, the car was retired.
“I was only getting settled into a rhythm and then a full-course yellow came into effect at Turns Three and Four where you are quite fast already, and the Aston Martin in front of me braked for the countdown, so I also braked at the same point as him and then, I don’t know, from behind, I got hit,” explained Harper.
“I don’t think I have ever been hit as hard in my life, so it kind of hurt initially, but thankfully, I was okay, but the car was not okay as the impact broke the toe link, so we couldn’t continue with the race. It was a huge shame for us because our race pace was looking good.”
Meanwhile, at the Killarney Historic Rally – the opening round of the 2025 Historic Irish Tarmac Rally Championship – Donagh Kelly and Rory Kennedy scored a resounding 23.7-second victory in wet and windy conditions from the Ford Escort Mk2 of defending champions Tomas Davies and Shane Buckley. John O’Donnell and Paddy Robinson made it a brace of BMW M3s inside the top three by finishing third.
In the Modified battle, Rob Duggan and Ger Conway made it back-to-back successes, the Ford Escort Mk2 team-mates showing their rivals a clean pair of heels to retain one of the most sought-after trophies by 18.6 seconds.