DTM Norisring: Jordan Pepper takes maiden DTM win after Spa 24 Hours triumph
Lamborghini driver Pepper took a commanding victory, his first in the German championship
Jordan Pepper’s impressive form shows no signs of slowing down, with the 28-year-old South African taking his maiden DTM victory at the Norisring, one week on from his Spa 24 Hours success.
Pepper dominated the race from pole position with his Grasser-entered Lamborghini, describing the contest as “the longest 55 minutes of my life”.
Pepper’s victory seemed at risk at only one moment in the race, as he lost almost 10 seconds in the pits due to a rear-right tyre problem, but he had built enough of a lead during the first half to stay ahead.
Manthey Porsche driver Thomas Preining was three seconds behind under the chequered flag, with Maro Engel making up the podium despite contact with last year’s Norisring race winner Nicki Thiim on the opening lap – Thiim spun but Engel escaped sanction with stewards deeming it a racing incident. The Dane finished dead last in 20th.
Nicki Thiim, Team Abt Sportsline Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Thierry Vermeulen was fourth ahead of Jack Aitken, Lucas Auer, Jules Gounon, Arjun Maini, Ricardo Feller and Rene Rast, who made an impressive recovery from 17th on the grid.
Things went less smoothly for McLaren racer Timo Glock, who again reported a loss of power after a similar mishap in qualifying, while reigning DTM champion Mirko Bortolotti also found himself powerless against the competition. “They’re destroying me out there,” he complained to the Abt Lamborghini squad on the radio. Bortolotti had a heated battle with Marco Wittmann, featuring several touches, which led to a warning for the BMW driver. Both of them finished outside the top 15.
Meanwhile, Aston Martin had cause to celebrate with Gilles Magnus scoring the brand’s first points of the season in 12th – his first career points in DTM.
Team-mate Nicolas Baert seemed like he might collect an even bigger haul, starting from sixth and holding on to 10th until his pitstop, but he locked up on cold tyres and got a penalty lap for speeding in the pitlane. Baert then collided with Luca Engstler at high speed, sending the Lamborghini in the barriers, which he was handed three additional penalty laps for. He ended up retiring from the race.
Finally, HRT Ford driver Fabio Scherer failed to start the race due to a heavy crash in qualifying, which meant his car could not be repaired in time.
Auer has retained the lead of the championship, with Pepper now just six points away thanks to his maiden win. Engel is third in the standings.
The second race of the Norisring round will start at 1:30pm local time on Sunday.
Photos DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
2025 DTM Norisring
Race result
|
1
-
2
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cla | Driver | # | Car | Laps | Time | Interval | Pits | Points | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |
J. Pepper TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT
|
63 | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 | 65 |
56'12.192 |
1 | 25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 |  T. Preining Manthey EMA |
91 | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 65 |
+3.055 56'15.247 |
3.055 | 1 | 20 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 |  M. Engel Mercedes-AMG Team Winward |
24 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 65 |
+4.132 56'16.324 |
1.077 | 1 | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 |
T. Vermeulen Emil Frey Racing
|
69 | Ferrari 296 GT3 | 65 |
+5.596 56'17.788 |
1.464 | 1 | 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 |  J. Aitken Emil Frey Racing |
14 | Ferrari 296 GT3 | 65 |
+6.557 56'18.749 |
0.961 | 1 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | L. Auer Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf |
22 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 65 |
+19.650 56'31.842 |
13.093 | 1 | 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 |  J. Gounon Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter |
48 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 65 |
+20.292 56'32.484 |
0.642 | 1 | 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 |  A. Maini HRT Ford Performance |
36 | Ford Mustang GT3 | 65 |
+20.873 56'33.065 |
0.581 | 1 | 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 |  R. Feller Land-Motorsport |
29 | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | 65 |
+23.032 56'35.224 |
2.159 | 1 | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | R. Rast Schubert Motorsport |
33 | BMW M4 GT3 Evo | 65 |
+28.196 56'40.388 |
5.164 | 1 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| View full results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Share Or Save This Story
Porsche after Rolex 24 win: “It looked more dominant than it actually was”
NLS changes 2026 calendar to aid Max Verstappen's Nurburgring 24 Hours bid
Ayhancan Guven and Marco Wittmann clash over last-lap fight to decide DTM title
Violent crash in China F1 support race: driver undergoes surgery, race abandoned
McLaren suffers F1 Chinese GP disaster as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri hit trouble
LIVE: F1 Chinese GP updates - Kimi Antonelli leads Lewis Hamilton after safety car restart
Why Isack Hadjar rejected Kimi Antonelli's apology after the Shanghai F1 sprint race
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments