IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP: SAHLEN'S SIX HOURS OF THE GLEN

June 22, 2025

Dan Harper

Max Hesse

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by our GTD Pro winners, Max Hesse and Dan Harper.

Q. Dan, talk about your first win here in IMSA, very tricky conditions. Just take us through that and what it took for you guys to pull it off today.

DAN HARPER: Well, firstly, very happy to be here for the first time. Yeah, at the start I would say I took the start and the rain came on very quickly, and it was a bit chaotic, to be honest. I was glad when the first safety car came to calm everything down a little bit. Although it was Andrea and the Lamborghini and I that were first and second at the time, and we'd sort of got a little bit of a gap to the guys behind.

Then the heavy rain came, and then it was just trying to survive, not crash until -- we were debating whether it would go red flag like it did -- I think it was last year. So we wanted to stay out to not lose the track position, or whether we would eventually have to pit for the rain tires.

Then unfortunately I got a penalty for crossing the red light on the exit of the pit lane, and at that point I sort of thought I had blew it.

Yeah, then it was on to Max to bring us back up the order, and he did a great job, also the team with the strategy. And we got fortunate with the amount of safety cars today that gave us the opportunity to come forward, and then they put me in the position to bring it home. It was a nice feeling.

Q. Max, as he mentioned, you had a stop plus 60-second penalty. I imagine when that happens you think your chances of winning are not great. How surprised were you to find yourself back in position to win, and what does it mean to you to win here?

MAX HESSE: Yeah, obviously it was very unfortunate because we were in a good position at that time, and we knew we had a strong race car. We were hoping to just do our laps and be there at the end, but Dan decided differently.

But no, it was fine. Then obviously had a couple of strong restarts which got us back to the front. And as Dan mentioned, those restarts really helped us to come here. Got us back into P1, and the team really did a great job with all the pit stops. They were always spot on, didn't really lose any seconds in the pit lane today. So really grateful to them.

Yeah, Dan got it done in the end, so really, really proud.

Q. If I recall, last October at the Indianapolis eight-hour was the first time either of you had raced in the United States. Are you surprised that you've picked up racing on America's circuits so quickly?

DAN HARPER: No, to be honest. Of course new circuits, new challenges. I think, to be honest, I think the GTD Pro in terms of GT racing at the moment is probably the highest level. So we knew we were in for a big challenge. But especially, at least speaking for myself, I love the challenge of a new circuit and learning a new track. I love the tracks here in America so far that I've been to.

I think Watkins Glen has been a really cool track. It's high speed. It takes a lot of commitment. It flows really nicely, up and downhill, so it has a bit of everything, and it suits the M4, which helped us today.

MAX HESSE: Not much more to add. We both grew up together on the Nordschleife, on the Nürburgring. So we're used to those kind of tracks.

But I have to, yeah, really say that this has been the greatest track so far for this reason. I really enjoyed it. It gives great racing.

And obviously, as I said before, those safety car restarts, they were helping, as well, because always going back from zero with the cold tires was a challenge. But our car was handling that really, really well today.

Yeah, really looking forward to the next tracks. As has been mentioned, the only track we know from now on is Indy, so multiple tracks to learn.

Q. Was it weird to be here instead of the Nürburgring for the 24?

MAX HESSE: Yes and no. Obviously we've done this race the past five years, since we were 18, and we were able to do it. So I would have loved to be there. But honestly, this has been great. So no doubt that this was, I think, the right choice for us this year. And over there BMW won, as well. So happy days.

Q. Dan, obviously it was a big day overall for BMW, both there and here.

DAN HARPER: Yeah, it's amazing. We were watching near enough from the start of the 24 Nürburgring last night, or yesterday in the afternoon, the whole way until the checkered flag now. We were keeping an eye and supporting our guys.

It was weird only seeing one car competing there for BMW. But great for them. I'm so happy for them, especially Augusto, our ex-teammate. He's been wanting to win that one for a long time, and he finally got it done. So that was fantastic, and it was great for us today, as well.