Jordan Pepper racked up another incredible endurance-race victory for South Africa this past weekend. Sharing the #63 GRT Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3 at the fearsome Spa 24 Hour, the trio were fast and clinical to clinch one of the toughest 24-hour races on the calendar.
Unusually for the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit near the Ardennes Forest in Belgium, the entirety of the 24-hour race was dry. The race is typically interrupted by heavy rain, fog and sometimes both. In fact, extraordinarily hot conditions over the weekend had their own unique challenges for Jordan Pepper and his teammates …
JORDAN PEPPER WINS SPA 24 HOUR
Better still, victory for Jordan Pepper in Spa is the second big win for South African GT racers in two weeks. Kelvin van der Linde took home the Nurburgring 24 Hour win in a BMW just one-week prior.
Moreover, the Spa 24 Hour saw all four top South African race drivers compete: including Sheldon and Kelvin van der Linde in BMWs and David Perel in a Ferrari. However, it was the #63 GRT Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Jordan Pepper, Mirko Bortolotti and Luca Engstler that crossed the line first.
RACE OF ATTRITION
Unlike the 24 Hours of Le Mans that features top-class prototypes, the Spa 24 is for GT3 cars only. And while there are multiple classes of drivers – rated from Bronze to Platinum (like Jordan Pepper) – all compete in the same spec machinery, which keeps the racing very close.
Likewise, the Nurburgring 24 Hour is unique in that it has no safety cars to bunch up the field. Meanwhile the Spa 24 does, which adds a totally different dimension to surviving and winning the race. As the #63 GRT Grasser team found out, to win you have to be brutally fast, stay out of trouble, make zero mistakes and have reliability on your side.
DOWN TO THE FINAL PITSTOPS
Bortolotti drove the final two-and-a-half-hour stint in stifling heat to cross the line. But Jordan Pepper arguably drove the most important stints that edged the Lamborghini ahead of its closest rival, the #96 Rutronik Porsche 911, on an offset pit strategy.
The brutal 24-hour race ebbed and flowed and finally boiled down to a tense final pitstop for the top teams. Having made zero mistakes to that point, with just 45 minutes to go, the team used clever pit strategy to come out ahead on track by a few seconds.
SECOND MAJOR WIN FOR JORDAN PEPPER
The Spa 24 Hour victory is the second major endurance win for South African Jordan Pepper. He took an emotional win at the iconic Bathurst 24 Hour for Bentley back in 2020. Is there are any stopping South Africa’s current crop of super-fast racing drivers? Of course not, it’s not DNA, it’s RSA!
HOW PROUD ARE YOU OF SOUTH AFRICA’S DRIVERS RIGHT NOW?
Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1.
Subscribe to The South African website’s newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
