With the DTM regular cockpit in the Grasser Lamborghini, South African Jordan Pepper is fulfilling a childhood dream: his former flatmates are also very happy about it
Last year, South African Jordan Pepper got a taste of DTM air when he stood in for his Lamborghini factory driver colleague Franck Perera at the Sachsenring to compete for the Grasser team. Although he was involved in a collision with a BMW and promptly showed three-time champion Rene Rast the finger, he announced his return.
So it was all the more gratifying when he was presented by the Grasser team as a regular driver for 2025 on Monday. “Being a regular DTM driver is a childhood dream come true,” the 28-year-old wrote on Instagram. “I already had a little taste of it last year – now I’m looking forward to more.”
But it is not only the man from Edenvale, who moved to Europe in 2013 to race in the VW Scirocco Cup under the banner of the DTM and shared a flat with the van der Linde brothers, who is over the moon.
Pepper wants to emulate the van der Linde brothers
He also receives congratulations from colleagues and rivals on Instagram. “That’s great!” and “I’m proud of you.”
Pepper, who can hardly wait for the season opener in April, thanks his “brother”, as he calls the BMW works driver: “I will do my best to hold the South African flag as high as you guys did.”
Kelvin van der Linde, who is also friends with Pepper and who will “probably take a one-year break from the DTM” after switching to BMW, also took the opportunity to congratulate his former flatmate. “Great news,” he wrote. “Thanks a lot bro,” Pepper, who recently went skiing with Kelvin van der Linde, replied.
Mercedes-AMG rival Engel also congratulates
But it’s not just his South African buddies who are congratulating. Mercedes-AMG factory driver Maro Engel, who finished third in the championship last year and will be competing again in the Winward-Mercedes in 2025, is also happy for Pepper.
“Congratulations, buddy, well deserved!” he tells his rival. ‘See you on the grid.’ Pepper’s reaction? ”Looking forward to it.”
So it will be interesting to see how “Jürgen Pfeffer”, as Jordan Pepper’s nickname is, will fare in his first full DTM year with the Grasser team in Germany. The starting position is quite promising, because with David Grabengiesser, Mirko Bortolotti’s master racing engineer is now working on his Huracan GT3 Evo2 after two years with SSR.
