Dan Harper and his Century Motorsport team-mate Darren Leung moved to the top of the Bronze Cup standings in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup after two breathless wins in Germany.
The pair secured a maiden victory in sublime fashion around Hockenheim on Saturday, taking their BMW M4 GT3 car from 13th in the support series to first.
Harper laid the groundwork as he stormed up through the field to third, clawing back 11 spots within the space of 25 minutes.
At the driver switchover, Leung exited the pits and extended the gap to the Barwell Motorsport-run Lamborghini of Rob Collard and Sandy Mitchell to take maximum points by 10.884 secs.
Harper and Leung completed a Bronze Cup double thanks to another gritty display.
A mechanical issue during Sunday’s qualifying session meant the best the latter could muster was the 16th row of the grid.
However, within the space of one lap, Leung was up to second in class and completed his stint within touching distance of the No.97 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.
However, a cleaner mid-race handover ensured Harper emerged from the pit lane in the lead – a position the Hillsborough native maintained to win by 3.681 secs from Collard and Mitchell.
Hillsborough’s Dan Harper in action during a strong weekend for Century Motorsport in Germany
“It has been a brilliant weekend, picking up two Bronze victories,” said Harper.
“We made good progress through testing and practice, and then, the car really came alive on Saturday and Sunday.
“We had to really fight in both races, which just made the wins even sweeter.
“I did the hard work in Race One, and it was Darren’s job to bring it home, and then, it was roles reversed for Race Two.
“It is always great fun racing with Darren and Century Motorsport, and I am incredibly proud of everyone involved for this success. We cannot wait for Magny-Cours next at the end of August.”
Meanwhile, Moira’s William Creighton secured a career-best result on Rally Latvia – Round Eight of the FIA World Rally Championship’s WRC2 series – alongside co-driver Liam Regan.
Moira’s William Creighton in action during an impressive weekend at Rally Latvia
“I am really happy to get a strong result and solid finish under our belt on our first fast gravel rally in the Ford Fiesta Rally2,” said Creighton.
“The sensation on the stages was so enjoyable – really fast and flowing – and the enthusiasm from all the fans in Latvia also ensured it was incredible.
“It has been a really positive weekend. Liam has done a good job, so massive thanks to him and the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy and M-Sport for all their hard work this week.”
Fellow Irishman Josh McErlean had high hopes of a podium prior to the Liepaja-based event – the second of three consecutive rapid loose surface events that concludes at Rally Finland in August – but a visit into a ditch on Friday afternoon that cost one minute and 20 seconds put paid to that.
That proved to be one of many setbacks for the 24-year-old from Kilrea, with a puncture and a turbo pipe issue on his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 making it a character-building weekend as he ended up in eighth position in WRC2.