Dan Harper is one of the youngest drivers in the BMW M Motorsport lineup of works drivers and will be competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) for the first time this year with Paul Miller Racing.
The 24-year-old from Northern Ireland began his racing career as a little kid, competing in quad bikes and karting from age six. He moved into junior rally in 2015 and won events in the Ireland Junior 1000 Rally Challenge. His success led to a Ginetta Junior Scholarship and a fully funded season racing in the Ginetta Junior Championship, where he won the Rookie Cup title in 2016.
Harper became a Porsche Great Britain Junior Driver for 2018-19 and competed in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain championship, where he went on to win the driver’s title in 2019. It’s unclear why Harper didn’t stay with Porsche, as drivers who are as successful as Harper was as a Junior driver often become factory drivers.
Harper (right) with fellow Junior Team members Max Hesse (middle) and Neil Verhagen at the Nürburgring in 2022.
In any case, Porsche’s loss was BMW’s gain, as Harper was signed by BMW M Motorsport for the Junior Team in 2020, along with German Max Hesse and American Neil Verhagen. The Junior Team concept was started by BMW Motorsport legend Jochen Neerspach, who formed the first BMW Junior Team in 1977. Neerspach oversaw the new Junior Team and developed them as drivers as they competed in many races, including the Nürburgring 24 Hour and Spa 24 Hour races.
Harper (right) and Darren Leung won the British GT Championship in 2023 with Century Motorsport.
Harper, Hesse, and Verhagen all graduated into full works driver status for the 2023 season, and Harper continued with the success he had as a Junior Team driver. He won the 2023 British GT Championship for Century Motorsport with co-driver Darren Leung and then won the 2024 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup in the Bronze class, again co-driving with Leung. Harper has also tested the M Hybrid V8 in Bahrain along with Hesse and Valentino Rossi. In January of this year, he was one of the winning drivers for BMW M Team WRT in the Dubai 24 Hour.
Harper was one of the winning drivers in the Dubai 24 Hour this year.
Harper had never raced in America before the Rolex 24 at Daytona this year but impressed there as well. He put the #48 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 into third on the GTD Pro grid in qualifying, and that car was leading the race in the night hours before being involved in a multi-car accident through no fault of their own, which took them out of the running.
Harper will drive for Paul Miller Racing in IMSA this season.
We’ll be seeing a lot more of Harper this year, as he will be competing in the full IWSC GTD Pro class with Max Hesse in the Paul Miller Racing #48 M4 GT3. With Neil Verhagen teamed with Madison Snow in the team’s #1 M4 GT3, we’ll see all three former Junior Team members on the same team and perhaps competing against each other.
Harper’s next race in the IWSC will be the 12 Hours of Sebring in mid-March.
—David Haueter
[Photo by BMW, David Haueter]
