Pepper Puts VSR Lamborghini on Hockenheim Race 1 Pole

Jordan Pepper claimed Lamborghini’s first Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup pole in two years ahead of the first 60-minute race at Hockenheim.

The South African driver produced a time of 1:37.446 in the No. 60 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 that he shares with Franck Perera, beating a cohort of seven Audi entries.

It marked the first Lamborghini pole in GTWC Europe Sprint Cup since Ricardo Feller put Emil Frey Racing on top in qualifying for the opening race at Zandvoort in 2021.

Feller, now driving Attempto Racing’s Tresor Orange 1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, came through in second by a margin of three-tenths of a second, while Frederic Vervisch went third-quickest in the No. 12 Comtoyou Racing Audi.

Pepper was briefly beaten to the provisional pole by Albert Costa, but the Emil Frey Ferrari driver had his 1:37.244 effort deleted for a track limits breach and dropped to 13th.

Notably, Pepper only used one set of slick Pirelli tires during his run, whereas most of the other competitors opted to change mid-session. Cars can use four sets over the two qualifying sessions and races.

Class pole-sitters ranked fourth and fifth as Dennis Marschall scooped the Bronze Cup top spot in the No. 66 Attempto Racing Audi and Gilles Magnus paced Gold Cup for Comtoyou’s No. 21 entry.

Lucas Legeret, Simon Gachet and Christopher Mies completed the Audi train as Christian Klien picked up ninth in the No. 111 JP Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

Charles Weerts completed the top 10 in Team WRT’s No. 32 BMW M4 GT3, while points leader Timur Boguslavskiy will start the first race of the weekend from 28th after having his best lap time deleted for track limits.

It was an even tougher qualifying session for Valentino Rossi, who only managed 35th overall for the first race since his maiden GTWC Europe Sprint Cup win at Misano.

Haupt Racing Team made a late adjustment to its Hockenheim driver lineup due to Frank Bird returning home following the death of his father Paul, a motorcycle racing team owner, at the age of 56 after a short illness.

Alain Valente was drafted into the No. 77 Mercedes-AMG to partner Jordan Love and will undergo a shakedown lap this morning before taking part in the first race.

Love ended up taking the Silver Cup pole for Race 1 with a time of 1:38.257 which put him 12th in the overall order.

The first race of the weekend starts at 2 p.m. CEST (8 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Qualifying 1