Pepper: Surviving First Lap Melee Key to Grasser Victory

Jordan Pepper credited surviving the opening corner chaos in Sunday’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup race at the Nürburgring as key to GRT Grasser Racing Team’s victory, which he described as “good revenge” after a disappointing CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

The South African took the start of the race aboard the No. 163 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and emerged in the lead after contact between David Vidales, Patric Niederhauser and Lucas Auer eliminated the polesitting No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

With Pepper in first and Auer moving up to second, it set up a battle between the Lamborghini and No. 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that raged on for much of the race.

Pepper, Marco Mapelli and Franck Perera went on to take victory, which was Lamborghini’s first Endurance Cup win since 2021.

Speaking to Sportscar365, Pepper hailed the importance of making it through the opening scramble unscathed, also referencing his tangle with ROWE Racing’s Marco Wittmann in last year’s race.

“You know that famous saying, you never win the race in the first corner?” Pepper said.

“Today was the perfect situation. I had a lot of doubters from last year’s issue at the start, and it was nice to kind of get a little bit of a revenge back.

“To get to the lead out of Turn 2 was the key to the race today. We stayed ahead of some strong cars. I think [Winward] were for sure quicker but a place like this so high speed, it’s very hard to pass.

“What we did perfectly was just manage the the pit stop sequences quite well.

“The second one we were a little bit unlucky, where it looked like we might have lost out but at least a good move by Franck to switch back.

“We were not the quickest, but we were super consistent over the stint and obviously we executed a great qualifying, which gave us a good start position so it was mega and good revenge from Spa.”

Pepper noted that the 24H Spa outcome, where the Grasser finished fifth after topping Superpole, was still “fresh in our minds” at the Nürburgring.

“When you have a package to at least go for the podium at that race and you don’t quite manage it due to circumstances, it’s endurance racing, but for sure it stings a bit.

“But to just prove that we have a great car, this Lamborghini Huracan EVO2 is showing up in a very strong fashion at the moment.

“I think credit goes out to the the guys back home in Sant’Agata for producing such a good car. I’m just proud of everyone and it’s nice that Lamborghini is finally back on top.”

Grasser faced fierce opposition from Winward for two-thirds of the race, with the No. 48 Mercedes-AMG’s challenge only breaking in the final hour in which it eventually dropped to third behind Schumacher CLRT.

Pepper described the first two hours as “two high-pressure stints” in which he and Mapelli battled Auer and Maro Engel.

“For a good 50 minutes in my stint, I was pretty worried about Lucas,” He said.

“It was unreal how much pace they had, obviously. It kind of looks back a little bit to Spa, where they were so fast in the middle of the stints.

“For sure, they’re doing a great job. You see the performance that they have, obviously, across all championships at the moment. They’re obviously executing well.

“That’s what’s great about this championship, when you can fight against the best in the world and come out on top, it makes it extra special for sure.

“My stint, Marco’s stint, were two high-pressure stints, two hours of a lot of intense battles but I think we just obviously managed the last stint well.

“We got quite lucky through the traffic I have to say, and Franck could build up a good gap.

“Then from there, obviously the end was made easy by the Porsche catching the Merc. [That] made life a lot easier for us.”