A strong start to the 2019 Porsche Carrera Cup GB has seen Dan Harper emerge from the first race weekend at Brands Hatch as championship leader after taking pole position, victory and a podium finish.
The Porsche GB 2018/19 Junior is hoping to maximise his efforts this year for the title after a race winning start in his debut year.
“What a way to kick off the 2019 season.” said Harper. “I had a difficult start to my Porsche Carrera Cup GB journey last year, so the focus this time around was firmly on banking points and giving ourselves a great platform for the season ahead, which is exactly what we achieved.”
A positive off-season saw him running at the top of the time sheets at most sessions, indicating he could be one to beat this year.
With mixed weather conditions on the Saturday, Harper put in an impressive time of 48.431 seconds to lap the Indy circuit over half a second faster than the second placed JTR car of Pro-Am driver Jamie Orton.
Come race day, the weather was unpredictable again. Following delays while competitors waited for the fog to lift from the Kent circuit racing finally got under way and Harper made the most of it, leading almost flawlessly from lights to flag.
His only mistake was a brief excursion on the the grass as he avoided the back of a slower car heading in to Surtees.
“I was really pleased with how our pre-season testing went, but you never know where you truly stand until the first race meeting of the season and therefore to take pole position in qualifying and convert it into a race win was incredibly satisfying.” he added.
The second race saw Harper battle with Motorbase Performance driver Lewis Plato as they demonstrated some impressive race craft. Plato would get the upper hand by the time the chequered flag was out, but it showed that there could be an interesting battle between these two drivers for the championship over the year.
“Pole position, race win, fastest lap, another podium finish, championship lead and driver of the weekend, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
“Thank you to JTR for giving me a truly faultless race car all weekend and thank you to all my sponsors for making this possible.
With the first race weekend of the year out of the way, focus now switches to Donington Park, a track Harper is keen to get back to.
“Now I have the championship lead, I don’t want to lose it. I love Donington Park and the official pre-season test went well there, finishing fastest overall. We go there full of confidence and hopefully we can enjoy another weekend like we have at Brands Hatch.”