Pepper’s Lausitz ADAC GT Masters promise taken out from behind

Lausitzring’s Eurospeedway proved a tough weekend for South Africa’s Bentley Boy Jordan Pepper, who together with teammate Andreas Weishaupt had turned the recalcitrant Number 9 ABT Bentley Continental GT3 around to see it in a competitive points paying position in the second of the weekend’s ADAC GT Masters races. But Weishaupt was taken out from behind in a late race safety car restart.

“Going into the weekend, we knew Lausitzring would tough track to crack for our car,” Jordan explained. “Qualifying was very tight - Andy placed put it 30th on the race 1 grid, I ended up 17th for Race 2 and we clearly had a lot of work on our hands, but we were still optimistic for good results.…

“We did all we could in the first race and stayed relatively clean and out of trouble as we drove home to 17th, but we definitely made a big step forward and we were looking good for a top result in the second race.” Jordan indeed delivered a significant step forward as he and fellow South African Kelvin van der Linde’s Audi ran nose to tail in the top ten throughout the first stint: “I made a clean start and we were well up into top 10 overall and holding a strong class lead before I handed the car to Andy, who was running well in the second stint — things were looking up.

“Unfortunately however, some drivers in this series think its bumper cars and we were taken out shortly after a Safety Car restart when Andy was hit from behind and and turned around before someone rammed the side of our car and took out the front suspension. “So we retired — this time through no fault of our own.

“Summer break is now upon us, so we are looking forward to taking a much needed rest before we spend some time to learn more about the car so we can and come back strong at Red Bull Ring in Austria at the end of July.”