Daniel Harper is ready to “regroup and go again” after suffering double disappointment in the Ginetta Junior Championship at Oulton Park.
The reigning Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner saw contact out of his control in both races lead to his first retirements of the season so far.
Harper showed his pace in the early stages of both races however, climbing from ninth to fifth within two laps of the opening race before his steering failed on lap six – the after-effect of earlier contact.
In race two, Harper would once again make impressive early progress as he rose from 19th to the top ten within three laps, putting him right on the tail of the Rookie class leader.
The Northern Irishman’s race would end soon after though as he had nowhere to go when a driver in front spun and the rolled across the circuit into his path.
As Harper nursed the car back to the pits the damaged bodywork caught alight on his exhaust, though fortunately the quick work of Harper and the marshals ensured both driver and car emerged okay.
“Naturally I’m really disappointed with the pair of retirements this weekend,” said Harper, who retains a 37 point Rookie Cup lead ahead of next weekend’s visit to Croft.
“We showed fantastic pace straight from Friday practice, and I’m really pleased with the progress we made at the start of each race.
“My Dad and all the team did a fantastic job to repair the car after the opening race and I really wanted to reward them with a strong performance.
“We were firmly in contention for the Rookie Cup lead, but luck just wasn’t in our favour. We’ll regroup and go again at Croft.”
