For the second year in a row a South African has won Europe’s prestigious Scirocco R-Cup series. Following Kelvin van der Linde’s championship win in 2013, SA teenager Jordan Pepper has been crowned the 2014 champ before the season even ended after a commanding victory in the series’ second race at the Nurburgring on Saturday.
Despite temporarily losing the lead to German championship rival Jason Kremer, Pepper regained the position and went on to take the chequered flag with a 1,9 second lead – after losing to Kremer by just 0,4 seconds earlier that morning. The 18-year Pepper’s win tally of five contributed to his 50 point advantage in the championship – which can’t be surpassed at the final round at Hockenheim in October.
“The race definitely felt like the longest of my life. It seemed like 14 laps on the Nordschleife. I was a bit nervous before the start. Then when Jason Kremer was suddenly ahead of me I knew that I had to regain the lead straight away. From that point on I didn’t look in my rear-view mirror and then went wild at the checkered flag. The championship in the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup means so much to me, I can’t put it into words. But this success wouldn’t have been possible without my team, my dad and my sponsor Blue Label telecoms,” said Pepper, who was congratulated by both his father and 2013 champion van der Linde at the finish.
Sweden’s Victor Bouveng, who had finished third in the first race, also came into the penultimate round of the series contending for the championship, but despite carving his way up the field from 10th on the grid during race two, only managed fourth overall. He would have needed to finish second to take the championship fight to the final round at Hockenheim.
“A superb result for motorsport in my home country of South Africa. Jordan has performed terrifically all season and truly earned the title. It would be great if our successes paved the way for more young talent in South Africa to make it to Europe,” said van der Linde.
