Pepper: Cool to ‘Take Risk on Strategy’ for Win on BMW Debut

Michelin 24H Dubai winner Jordan Pepper says “it was cool to take a risk on strategy” during the final stages of the race as he had to fuel save to secure victory on his first outing as a works BMW driver.

The South African was part of a strong lineup at the wheel of the No. 669 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO – which also included fellow factory ace Kelvin van der Linde, Ben Tuck, Fran Rueda, and Anthony McIntosh – for his maiden race in the car.

Although the crew had featured towards the front for the majority of the contest, and maintained the lead continuously from the 13th hour, there was a slightly nervy conclusion to the race.

Pepper took the wheel for the final couple of hours and the team pitted during a Code 60 with 40 minutes to go, but was heavily restricted upon how much fuel it could take on per Creventic series regulations.

The sister BMW did pit again in the closing laps and Pepper ultimately finished a lap ahead having been confident in the bold strategy call.

“I think we had a bit of, let’s say, safety margin to our sister car, so it was cool to do that [take a risk and not pit again] and see the reward out of it as well,” Pepper told Sportscar365.

“For sure not pushing flat out at the end but, when you’re driving to a fuel target, you’re still pushing to save and hit a number.

“They gave me some targets and I was able to hit more of a target than what was given to me and, ultimately, in the end, it made the difference.”

BMW dominated for much of the race with the German manufacturer looking set for a potential 1-2-3-4 result at one stage, despite Mercedes-AMG appearing to have the upper hand during qualifying.

Pepper admitted he was not expecting such a strong showing from BMW based upon that Friday performance when only two of the M4s made it into the Top 10 Shootout.

“We maybe didn’t have quite the one-lap pace compared to some of the other brands, but we executed extremely well on strategy, and took the right calls at the right moments,” he added.

“For me, it was more about the fact the team did a faultless job in the box, great pitstops all the way through, on strategy was perfect and my team-mates were just absolute legends. “I’m extremely proud to win my first race as a BMW works driver and I think it’s shown the move was the right one for me.

“I’m even more happy to do it alongside my brother from another mother, Kelvin. I think he’s really been so instrumental in getting me up to speed with the brand and there’s also a few others I can thank that’s always been very open and honest to help me.

“Still got a lot to learn with the car but definitely feeling a lot more comfortable after a 24-hour race under my belt.”

While Pepper praised the crew for having no contact, penalties or track-limits issues during the race, he did say there was a slight concern about an oil leak.

“When we did our brake change, we just topped up oil to be safe and make sure,” he said.

“There was a small issue – I don’t know if a grain of sand or something got inside the quick release valve on the oil refill.

“Luckily, we saw it straight away and we had to come back in, but it didn’t really harm us too much.”