Dan Harper

Dan Harper
Harper in 2017
Nationality	British
Born	(2000-12-08) 8 December 2000 (age 24) Hillsborough, Northern Ireland
British GT Championship career
Debut season	2023
Racing licence	FIA Gold (until 2022) FIA Platinum (2023–)
Car number	91
Former teams	Century Motorsport
Starts	13
Wins	2
Podiums	4
Poles	0
Fastest laps	2
Best finish	1st in 2023
Previous series
2016–17	Ginetta Junior Championship
Championship titles
2024 2023 2023 2019 2016	GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup - Bronze Cup British GT Championship British GT Championship - Pro-Am Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain Ginetta Junior Championship - Rookie
Awards
2023 2020–22 2018–19 2016	BMW Factory Driver BMW Junior Team Porsche GB Junior Ginetta Junior Scholar

Daniel "Dan" Harper (born 8 December 2000) is a racing driver from Northern Ireland. He is currently competing as a BMW Motorsport works driver and was the 2023 British GT champion. ^{[1] [2]}

Career

Harper started his racing career aged six, was a multiple champion in both quad bike and karting competition in his early years, before switching to junior rallying and winning three events in the Ireland Junior 1000 Rally Challenge in 2015. ^[3]

Harper made the transition to circuit racing the following year after winning the Ginetta Junior Scholarship ^[4] and with it a fully-funded season in the Ginetta Junior Championship for 2016.

In his maiden campaign with Douglas Motorsport, he took two outright race victories and won the Rookie Cup title. ^[5] He returned for a second campaign and won seven races on his way to third in the final standings.

Harper then won his second manufacturer scholarship in three years, being named the 2018/19 Porsche GB Junior driver for the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain. ^[6] In his first year, he won two races and posted more pole positions and fastest laps than any other driver. ^[7]

In 2019, he won the drivers’ title ^[8] and finished the season with the most wins (8), pole positions (6) and fastest laps (11).^{[ citation needed ]}

For 2020/21, Harper was signed by BMW Motorsport to compete as part of their BMW Junior Team. ^[9] In each season, he contested the Nürburgring Endurance Series and ADAC TOTAL 24 Hours of Nürburgring alongside team-mates Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen.

Starting the 2020 NES season in a BMW M240i, the BMW Junior Team took a maiden class win in their third race. A step up to a BMW M4 GT4 soon after yielded a class podium in their first race and a class victory in their first attempt at the ADAC Total 24 Hours of Nürburgring.

For 2021, they moved up to the premier class in a BMW M6 GT3 with the BMW Team RMG. They achieved two overall race wins and four podium finishes to finish as the overall Nürburgring Endurance Series vice-champions.

In 2022, Harper and the BMW Junior Team won a qualifier race ahead of the ADAC TOTAL 24 Hours of Nürburgring and took a podium finish during a two round stint in the Nürburgring Endurance Series with BMW Team RMG. They also contested a debut season in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with ROWE Racing, taking a best result of fourth in the 1000 km of Paul Ricard.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2023, Harper competed as a BMW works driver, entering the opening three rounds of the Nürburgring Endurance Series and the ADAC TOTAL 24 Hours of Nürburgring with BMW Team RMG, another full season in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with ROWE Racing, and a debut campaign in the British GT Championship with Century Motorsport. He was crowned the 2023 British GT champion alongside team-mate Darren Leung, after two race wins and four podium finishes.

Continuing as a BMW works driver in 2024, Harper contested a dual programme in the GT World Challenge Europe; entering the Endurance Cup with ROWE Racing and the Sprint Cup with Century Motorsport. Harper was crowned the 2024 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Bronze drivers' champion alongside team-mate Darren Leung, after two race wins and six podium finishes.

Harper secured a podium finish in the 2024 ADAC TOTAL 24 Hours of Nürburgring alongside Max Hesse and Charles Weerts with BMW Team RMG, as well as contesting a partial campaign in the British GT Championship alongside Michael Johnston at Century Motorsport.

2025 marks Harper's sixth season with BMW. He took his inaugural 24-hour race victory in the 2025 Dubai 24 Hour alongside Max Hesse, Darren Leung, Ben Tuck and Al Faisal Al Zubair at Al Manar Racing by Team WRT. He's contesting a first campaign in the IMSA SportsCar Championship alongside Max Hesse at Paul Miller Racing.

Harper is a full member of the British Racing Drivers' Club. He was previously part of the BRDC SuperStars programme ^[10] and Motorsport UK Academy's Team UK programme.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2016	Ginetta Junior Championship	Douglas Motorsport	25	2	0	3	7	390	5th
2017	Ginetta Junior Championship	Douglas Motorsport	26	7	6	6	15	625	3rd
2018	Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain	JTR	16	2	3	7	6	84	5th
2019	Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain	JTR	16	8	6	11	13	159	1st
	Porsche Supercup		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
2020	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP8T	Walkenhorst Motorsport	1	1	1	0	1	N/A	1st
	Nürburgring Endurance Series - SP8T	FK Performance Motorsport	3	0	0	0	1	11.25	4th
2021	Nürburgring Endurance Series - SP9 Pro	BMW Junior Team	7	2	0	0	4	39.22	2nd
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	BMW Junior Team Shell	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2022	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	BMW Junior Team with ROWE Racing	5	0	0	0	0	36	11th
	Nürburgring Endurance Series - SP9 Pro	BMW Junior Team	2	0	0	0	1	0	NC†
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	BMW Junior Team Shell	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2023	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	ROWE Racing	5	0	0	0	1	33	10th
	GT Winter Series	Schubert Motorsport	2	1	1	1	1	33	10th
	Nürburgring Endurance Series - SP9 Pro	BMW Junior Team	3	1	0	0	2	0	NC†
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
	British GT Championship - GT3	Century Motorsport	9	2	0	2	4	176	1st
	GT Cup Championship - Group GT3		2	1	1	1	2	0	NC†
2023-24	Asian Le Mans Series - GT	Project 1	5	0	0	0	0	11	21st
2024	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	ROWE Racing	5	1	0	1	1	36	8th
	GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup	Century Motorsport	8	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup - Bronze Cup			2	1	1	6	87.5	1st
	British GT Championship - GT3		4	0	0	0	0	14	16th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	BMW M Team RMG	1	0	0	0	1	N/A	3rd
	24 Hours of Nürburgring Qualifiers - SP9		2	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC†
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	BMW M Team RMG	1	0	0	0	1	36	5th
		ROWE Racing	1	0	0	0	0
		Team WRT	1	0	0	0	0
2025	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD Pro	Paul Miller Racing	1	0	0	0	0	220	11th*
	Middle East Trophy - GT3	Al Manar Racing by Team WRT	1	1	0	0	1	?	?

Complete Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos.	Points
2018	JTR	BRH 1 13	BRH 2 7	DON 1 3	DON 2 7	MNZ 1 RET	MNZ 2 8	OUL 1 4	OUL 2 1	SNE 1 2	SNE 2 4	KNO 1 1	KNO 2 2	SIL 1 5	SIL 2 2	BGP 1 9	BGP 2 4	5th	84
2019	JTR	BRH 1 1	BRH 2 3	DON 1 1	DON 2 3	CRO 1 1	CRO 2 (6)	OUL 1 1	OUL 2 4	THR 1 1	THR 2 1	SIL 1 1	SIL 2 4	SIL 1 7	SIL 2 4	BGP 1 4	BGP 2 1	1st	159

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Pos.	Points
2022	ROWE Racing	BMW M4 GT3	Pro	IMO 15	LEC 4	SPA 6H 11	SPA 12H 2	SPA 24H 5	HOC 9	CAT 13	11th	36
2023	ROWE Racing	BMW M4 GT3	Pro	MNZ 2	LEC 6	SPA 6H 4	SPA 12H 53	SPA 24H Ret	NÜR 11	CAT 12	10th	33
2024	ROWE Racing	BMW M4 GT3	Pro	LEC 1	SPA 6H 7	SPA 12H 17	SPA 24H 6	NÜR 11	MNZ	JED	4th	36

Complete British GT Championship results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
2023	Century Motorsport	BMW M4 GT3	GT3	OUL 1 6	OUL 2 6	SIL 1 1	DON 1 5	SNE 1 2	SNE 2 5	ALG 1 5	BRH 1 1	DON 1 2	1st	176
2024	Century Motorsport	BMW M4 GT3	GT3	OUL 1 9	OUL 2 14	SIL 1 17	DON 1 6	SPA 1	SNE 1	SNE 2	DON 1	BRH 1	16th	14

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	Pos.	Points
2023–24	Team Project 1	BMW M4 GT3	GT	SEP 1 18	SEP 2 10	DUB 1 7	ABU 1 8	ABU 2 15	21st	11

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos.	Points
2024	Century Motorsport	BMW M4 GT3	Bronze	BRH 1	BRH 2	MIS 1 17	MIS 2 20	HOC 1 15	HOC 2 11	MAG 1 21	MAG 2 26	CAT 1 21	CAT 2 22	1st	87.5

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Rank	Points
2025	Paul Miller Racing	GTD Pro	BMW M4 GT3 Evo	BMW P58 3.0 L Twin Turbo I6	DAY 12	SEB	LGA	DET	WGL	MOS	ELK	VIR	IMS	PET	11th*	220*

^* Season still in progress.

Awards

Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2019	Belfast Telegraph Sports Awards	Young Player Of The Year	Won
2019	Association of Northern Ireland Car Clubs Awards	ANICC Northern Ireland Motorsport Award	Won
2019	British Racing Drivers' Club Awards	The Henry Surtees Award	Won
2019	Autosport Awards	National Racing Driver of the Year	Nominated
2023	Motorsport News Awards	National Racing Driver of the Year	Nominated
2023	Autosport Awards	National Racing Driver of the Year	Nominated
2023	British GT Championship	Allan Simonsen Award (Driver of the Year)	Won

References

1. Gray, Andy (1 January 2023). "Dan Harper: Factory BMW deal a 'dream' for Northern Ireland driver". BBC Sport . Retrieved 29 March 2024.
2. Craig, Jason (23 March 2024). "Dan Harper: I can't wait for another year of battling in biggest races with BMW". Belfast Telegraph . Retrieved 29 March 2024.
3. "Association of Northern Ireland Car Clubs". archive.motorsportni.org. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
4. Paice, Simon. "Dan Harper Wins Ginetta Junior Scholarship For 2016". The Checkered Flag.
5. Paice, Simon. "Rookie Champion Harper: It's Been An Incredible Season". The Checkered Flag.
6. Pettit, Vince. "Daniel Harper Announced As Porsche GB 2018/19 Junior". The Checkered Flag.
7. Durant, Rob (11 November 2017). "New Porsche GB Junior headlines Porsche Carrera Cup GB 2018". Porsche UK.
8. Paice, Simon. "Daniel Harper Wins 2019 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Title". Next Level Motorsport.
9. Gray, Andy. "Dan Harper: NI Teenager Leads BMW's Junior Team Return". BBC Sport .
10. "BRDC Superstars Announce Class Of 2020". British Racing Drivers Club.

External links

• http://www.harperracing.com/

Sporting positions
Preceded by Tio Ellinas	Porsche Carrera Cup GB Champion 2019	Succeeded by Harry King
Preceded by Ian Loggie	British GT Championship Champion 2023 With: Darren Leung	Succeeded by Rob Collard Ricky Collard
Preceded by Ian Loggie	British GT Championship Pro-Am Champion 2023 With: Darren Leung	Succeeded by Rob Collard Ricky Collard
Preceded by Alex Malykhin	GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Bronze Cup Champion 2024 With: Darren Leung	Succeeded by Incumbent