Pepper Storms to Pole for Valencia Title Decider

Jordan Pepper stormed to pole position for GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup Race 2 at Valencia, beating his championship rivals ahead of what will be a five-car showdown for the overall drivers’ title.

The South African came out on top in a late-session shootout, reeling off a 1:31.115 to outpace the No. 10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Aurelien Panis by 0.041 seconds.

Panis set his 1:31.156 benchmark during the first segment of qualifying reserved for Silver and Bronze Cup entries.

The second part of qualifying, which featured the Pro and Gold Cup cars, was subsequently condensed due to a red flag as Thomas Neubauer spun the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 into the gravel in Turn 12.

This meant that qualifying for the top championship contenders effectively became a two-lap shootout for pole position.

In the end, only Pepper was able to jump ahead of Panis with a late flyer, while Marvin Kirchhoefer’s No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo took third and narrowly outpaced Kelvin van der Linde in the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO by 0.024 seconds.

Sven Mueller slotted into fifth aboard the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R ahead of newly crowned Silver Cup champion Jamie Day in the No. 21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

However, Day received a five-place grid penalty for receiving a third behaviour warning point.

Pepper, Kirchhoefer, Van der Linde and Mueller, along with the No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, will battle for the overall drivers’ title this afternoon in a close showdown.

The No. 32 BMW enters the finale level on 72 points with Maro Engel and Lucas Auer, although the Winward pairing will start out of position having qualified 16th.

The No. 59 McLaren and No. 63 Lamborghini are 1.5 and 2.5 points further back in third and fourth, respectively, while Rutronik pairing Mueller and Patric Niederhauser needs to overcome a deficit of 8.5 points to be crowned champions.

In the battle for the Gold Cup title, Louis Prette captured pole position in the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren he shares with Thomas Fleming, bringing the gap to the leading No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari down to just 3.5 points.

Prette and Emil Frey driver Chris Lulham were initially separated by the No. 35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin, but Henrique Chaves also received a five-place grid drop, as did the tenth-placed No. 97 Rutronik Racing Porsche.

Darren Leung captured Bronze Cup pole position aboard the No. 992 Paradine Competition BMW, outpacing championship leader Dustin Blattner by 0.037 seconds.

Blattner, sharing the No. 74 Kessel Racing Ferrari with Dennis Marschall, will defend a lead of 12 points over the No. 89 Lionspeed GP Porsche of Bashar Mardini and Bastian Buus.

The final Sprint Cup race of the season kicks off at 2:45 p.m. CEST (8:45 a.m. EST).