VLN 4-Hour – Nurburgring a learning curve for Pepper

South African GT3 racing star Jordan Pepper was delighted with his Nurburgring debut in the weekend’s VLN series ADAC Westfalenfahrt four-hour race, where he drove two Bentley Continental GT3s as part of his build-up to the 24-hour race at the legendary Nordschleife later in the year. Jordan ended up second overall in the black Number 38 Bentley, while his efforts in the second car contributed to it finishing 11th of 190 starters.

“That really was definitely a big learning experience,” Jordan admitted. “It’s something so unique to find 190 cars from Ford Fiestas to the GT3 cars sharing the same piece of Tarmac and I knew it was going to be a really tough weekend of racing with over 30 GT3 cars entered and 80% of them in with a good a chance of winning.

“Friday Practice went really well – it was my first ever dry run at the Nordschleife and I was happy with how things went; getting up to speed and on pace was a great confidence booster for the weekend.

“Saturday morning’s qualifying was really interesting, I first went out in the #37 car, but unfortunately due to Code 60’s – sectors where the maximum speed is 60km/h for safety reasons, I was not able to set a competitive lap.” With 20min to go in qualifying, Jordan then swapped from the yellow 37 he shared with German Christian Mamerow and Belgian driver Nico Verdonck into the black 38, where his German teammates Christer Jöns and Chris Brück had likewise been caught out by traffic and the car had not yet set a quick lap.

“I was up to the challenge!” Jordan explained. “My first lap was decent, but had a bit too much traffic, but my second lap was really awesome and I managed to put that car ninth on the grid. “Even though that wasn’t a perfect lap, it was by far my best qualifying lap – I think I held my breath for the entire eight minutes!

“That saw me into the qualifying shootout among the ten most experienced GT Drivers in the world on my Nordschleife Debut – what a really awesome feeling!

“My race also went very well – I knew it would be tough with all the traffic – while you’re battling door-to-door with other GT3 cars, you have also to be sure to navigate the traffic efficiently and safely, because it is so easy to get caught up with a slower car. “I definitely became far more comfortable with that as the race went on and I was really over the moon with my first GT3 race performance at the Nordschleife.

“I achieved what I set out to do – I was up to speed quickly while still taking it easy and building up my confidence lap for lap – what an experience! “My Abt Bentley team put in such a big effort over the winter and that really showed – we managed to come home second in the #38 and 11th with the #37 car in class, partially due to a compromised strategy and a few other smaller issues.

“Overall I’m Extremely happy with how the weekend went, I have learned so much but now I have a lot to work to do, to be sure I come back better prepared and ready next time – I already cannot wait to race my Bentley Continental GT3 at the Nurburgring again!”