Lamborghini Signs Pepper as Factory Driver

Lamborghini Squadra Corse has signed Jordan Pepper to a factory driver contract ahead of the 2023 season.

The 26-year-old South African has often featured in Lamborghini GT3 lineups since his stint with Bentley ended in 2020, and has now become officially linked to the Italian sports car manufacturer.

Pepper will make his first appearance as a Lamborghini works driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona later this month, sharing an Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 with Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Romain Grosjean in the GTD Pro class.

He is also set to compete in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, with full program details to be announced at a later date.

Pepper joined former Bentley team K-PAX Racing to drive one of its Lamborghinis in 2021 and claimed the GTWC America title alongside Caldarelli.

He continued with the Californian team in SRO America competition last year and also formed part of the K-PAX lineup that tackled the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa.

Pepper has also represented Konrad Motorsport in the Nürburgring 24 and NLS.

“I’m very excited to be joining the Lamborghini Squadra Corse family from the 2023 season and beyond,” he said.

“Stepping away from another factory program at the end of 2020 gave me an opportunity to explore and see what I would like to do with my future, and I was very privileged to be able to drive a Lamborghini for K-PAX Racing in America for the previous two titles.

“That experience, the title in the debut season and second last year, along with the Spa 24 Hours alongside Andrea and Marco [Mapelli] gave me an insight into how the factory works.

“It’s a manufacturer that I have grown to like and build a strong relationship with and when Giorgio [Sanna, Lamborghini head of motorsport] told me there was a chance to join, it was quite an easy decision to make.

“There wasn’t much discussion needed between us and we came to a good agreement straight.

“He’s shown great trust in me from offset to make this partnership work and what better way to kickstart our collaboration than in the Daytona 24 Hours, debuting the new GT3 EVO2.”

Pepper is Lamborghini’s third factory driver addition for 2023, following on from ex-Formula 1 driver Grosjean and International GT Open champion Leonardo Pulcini.

Lamborghini has stated that Pepper, Bortolotti, Caldarelli, Grosjean, Mapelli, Pulcini, Sandy Mitchell and Franck Perera make up this year’s factory roster.

Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoe are notably absent from the list, while a Lamborghini spokesperson confirmed they are no longer part of the program. It is understood that Costa could switch to Ferrari.

“We are very happy to welcome Jordan to our roster of factory drivers,” commented Sanna.

“Since joining us in 2021, he has shown himself to be a very fast and reliable driver which was displayed with the drivers’ title in GTWC America in his first year driving a Lamborghini.

“His professional attitude and determination will also be a good fit with the rest of the factory drivers this year and I am looking forward to seeing what he can achieve with us, starting with the Daytona 24 Hours at the end of this month.”