24 H Spa Francorchamps – Jordan ready for epic endurance challenge

South African Bentley racer Jordan Pepper is bursting at the seams in anticipation for one of the highlights of the endurance race season at the Spa 24-Hour 29-30 July. Pepper will share an Abt entered Continental GT3 with German Christer Jöns and Belgian Nico Verdonck which will race alongside two M-Sport entries at Spa and the Edenvale lad who is based in Kempen, Germany can’t wait to race.

“The Spa 24-Hour is going to be unreal, with 64 GT3 cars on track and the quality of the cars and the drivers probably even better than Le Mans in the Pro class, so I need to take my A Game to Belgium,” Jordan admitted. “Spa is a tough, technical and challenging track — it is 7km long with 19 corners and you need to get each one right — mess one corner up here and you lose a chunk of time, but I am always up to the challenge!

“Spa is my second 24-hour race, so it’s a bit easier, this time around. “I have trained hard and looked after my diet and I now know exactly what I have to do, when and where to do it to be prepared to the best of my ability. “We ran in the official test last week and that was good — not so much in results but more in terms of track time and being able to analyse, plan and improve.

“This race is a challenge to the whole team though — not only have we never been on these harder Pirelli tyres before, but it’s also the team’s first time in the Blancpain series and at Spa too, so we concentrated on getting in as many laps as possible to build up experience in the test.

“It went well though — we now know were we need to improve the car and where us drivers can do a little better too. “Personally I had a very good run getting to know my Bentley for the first time on this track — I have raced at Spa before but I was happy to get back up to speed very quickly and to get on top of Eau Rouge, Blanchimont and some of Spa’s other daunting bits.

“So I’d say I am ready — bring it on!” South African fans can follow the Spa 24-Hour via live streaming — find the link at www.blancpain-gt-series.com/live.