3 days ago
- Automotive
- Belfast Telegraph
Dan Harper's woes at Spa 24 Hours are compounded by late retirement: ‘We never got the luck back in our favour'
The Rowe Racing-run machine was brought into the pits with only 10 minutes remaining on the clock after Harper's team-mate Philipp Eng reported a drop in stopping power.
Prior to peeling off the circuit and into the safety of the garage, Austrian Eng – a former winner at the world-famous endurance meeting – was bravely holding on to sixth position.
Having had their strategy for Friday's Superpole destroyed by a red flag, they started from 18th on the grid but, within the first two hours, Eng had moved up to 12th before the next breakthrough came at 11pm local time as Harper steered the car into the top 10.
A combination of smart pit-stops and full-course yellows going their way catapulted the trio into the overall lead on two separate occasions.
However, as the twice-around-the-clock meeting entered the final throes, a lack of pace around the 4.352-mile circuit compared to the winning Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 and Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R inevitably meant their silverware hopes wilted before a 'did not finish' beckoned.
'What happened out there sums up the week quite well,' reflected Harper.
'If we roll back to the beginning of the week, we had not actually driven the car in the Prologue, so we were thrown in at the deep end – but the guys prepared the car brilliantly, as always.
'Of course, we needed to make a few tweaks to get the car set up the way that we wanted, which took a bit longer than we had hoped it would, but we did get there eventually and the car, as we saw, was very fast in the race.
'We had been leading for a period and were fighting in the top three right up until the last six hours before a full-course yellow came at the wrong time for us and dropped us back.
'From that point, we never quite got the luck back in our favour.
'It was a shame but, in the end, I do not think we had the pace to compete against the Lamborghini, so congratulations to them.
'But I still think Rowe can be proud, two cars fighting for the podium right to the finish shows that they always perform.'
It appeared as though Rowe Racing – fresh from conquering the Nürburgring 24 Hours the previous weekend – would have something to celebrate as the sister 98 BMW crossed the line in third to round out the podium spots.
However, a 30-second time penalty was added post-race by stewards for track limit infringements, dropping the car two positions to fifth.
Meanwhile, Kilrea's Josh McErlean overcame a double Friday puncture, rear suspension damage and no working handbrake on Saturday to complete Acropolis Rally Greece in 12th position on Sunday in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 alongside Eoin Treacy.
