The British GT Championship held their penultimate round at the Brands Hatch Circuit this past weekend, and BMW team Century Motorsport came away with a big win that put them in reach of the championship with only one round to go.
The Century Motorsport duo of Dan Harper and Darren Leung has been a contender in the GT3 class this season, driving the #91 M4 GT3 against some stiff competition. Leung has proven to be a quick study as a driver and works driver Harper has been one of the quickest pro drivers in the field. They’ve been a good pair and had momentum coming into Brands Hatch with four top-five finishes in a row, including a second-place finish at Snetterton.
In British GT qualifying, both drivers qualify in two sessions and the combined time is then used to set the grid. Leung was third fastest in his session with a 1:25.198 lap, and Harper was fourth fastest in his session with a 1:23.321. When combined, their times were good enough for second place on the grid behind the pole-sitting #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
Leung took the start and fell from second to third in the first lap, then gradually fell back to fourth, but managed to hold that position until the round of pit stops put Harper into the car. Harper started knocking off some of the fastest laps in the race. It wasn’t long before he caught up with Aston Martin works driver Ross Gunn (who also competes here in the US in IMSA) and used slower GT4 traffic to his advantage to get past Gunn with 29 minutes to go. He never got more than a one-second gap on Gunn through the end of the race but held on to take the victory.
Darren Leung (left) and Dan Harper celebrate their win.
The win by Leung and Harper put them in position to fight for the championship in the final round of the season, which takes place on October 21st-22nd at Donington Park. The BMW duo are just thirteen points behind Mercedes drivers James Cottingham and Jonny Adam. —David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO]
