VLN 4-Hour Preview – Pepper’s big Nurburgring weekend

Saturday 25 March is a big day for South African Bentley driver Jordan Pepper, who makes his Nürburgring VLN Endurance Championship race debut at the ADAC Westfalenfahrt. Pepper, who is entered in the four-hour race in two of the Abt Team Bentley Continental GT3s, will be among 187 cars lining up at the Nordschleife as part of the build-up to his first attempt at the Nurburgring 24-Hour later in the year.

“Saturday is my first race of the season and it’s actually going to be a crazy challenge,” Jordan admitted. “All the other factory teams will also be there with a similar programme preparing for the 24-hour, which means we will have a lot of tough competition, which is good, I suppose, because we can gauge ourselves against the rest.”

“For me, it’s a matter of going into the race with an open mind to learn as much as possible – and to learn from my teammates, which is a key aspect of this program. “I will also be driving a double stint this weekend in both the Abt Bentley GT3s, which I think will help me progress a lot quicker.

“We ran a test last weekend and I was very happy with how quickly I progressed through the mixed conditions – it was wet in the morning before it dried out to be half wet and half dry and it got wet again in the afternoon. “That gave us the opportunity to better understand Yokohama’s new wet tyre and now we also know what we need to do before the weekend – the team will be putting in a lot of hard work on the cars, while I spend time on simulator and in the gym.

“I’m also looking forward to racing with my new teammates for the first time in Christopher Brück and Christer Jöns in the one car and Nico Verdonck and Christian Mamerow in the other, with both cars competing in VLN Class SP9,” Jordan concluded. “So yes, this weekend is a real leap into the unknown for me.”

The entire VLN series will be streamed live in both German and English commentary for 2017 in conjunction with Radio Le Mans broadcast both on the vln.de website or search for VLN Live on Facebook Live – Saturday’s race starts midday.