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South Africa's Jordan Pepper claims 1st Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters win

South Africa's Jordan Pepper claims 1st Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters win

The Citizen07-07-2025
The son of former South African Touring Car driver Iain, Edenvale-born Jordan Pepper, is enjoying a purple patch in his racing career.
A former winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour with Bentley and the GTWC America Championship, Pepper's current contract with TGI Lamborghini Team by GRT sees him competing in both the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) and selected endurance-racing events, in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2.
Sharing a car with Luca Engstler and Mirko Bortolotti, Pepper's impressive current form saw him claim victory at the 2025 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on June 29. Buoyed by this success, the former VW Polo Cup and 2014 VW Scirocco Cup champion arrived at the fourth round of this year's DTM Championship, held at the Norisring street circuit in Nuremberg, Germany, filled with confidence.
Starting Race 1 from pole position, Pepper's impressive early-race pace came in handy after a slow mandatory pit stop threatened to scupper the team's efforts. With his proud father in attendance and family, including his sister, Tasmin, herself an accomplished racing driver, watching from home, Jordan held off Thomas Preining and Maro Engel to claim his maiden DTM victory.
'What an unbelievably emotional moment for me,' Pepper said. 'I am incredibly proud and still cannot really believe it. The final laps seemed to last forever. However, I gave it my all and remained focused right through to the finish.'
Significantly, the win vaulted Pepper into second place in the 2025 DTM Driver's Championship, behind Lucas Auer, who drives for Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf.
As a reminder, Pepper's compatriot and fellow former VW Polo Cup driver, Sheldon van der Merwe, became the first South African to win the DTM Driver's title, claiming the 2012 title with BMW.
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The post South Africa's Jordan Pepper Claims His First DTM Win appeared first on CAR Magazine.
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