Local lads showing good form overseas
Pepper and other young SA drivers fly the Mzansi flag in international races
SOUTH African racing drivers enjoyed some good results overseas last weekend. Joburg-based Jordan Pepper, who shares a Team Abt Bentley Continental GT3 with German codriver Christian Mamerow and Belgian Nico Verdonck, managed fourth place in Saturday’s Nurburgring VLN Series 4-hour race held at the famous 21km Nordscheife circuit.
The trio, who are preparing for the 24-hour endurance round at the Nurburgring next month, diced at the front of the 180-strong field, and led at some points, but a bad final pit stop strategy saw them miss out on a podium spot in the closing stages. The team’s next race will be a 6-hour at the same venue, ahead of the Nurburgring 24-hour on May 27 and 28.
Stephen Simpson, who was born in South Africa but now lives and competes in the US, also finished fourth in his JDC-Miller Oreca Gibson at the IMSA Long Beach Grand Prix on Saturday. Simpson and Canadian team-mate Misha Goikhberg were the top privateer entry behind the factory Cadillac, Nissan and Mazda entries which filled the podium.
The pair now sit third in the championship after three of 12 rounds.
Capetonian Jonathan Aberdein, who will contest this year’s ADAC German Formula 4 championship, was quickest of all 26 drivers after a two-day pre-season test at Oschersleben this week. Jonathan also finished in the top three of all six sessions at the event.
The first round of the season will be at Oschersleben on April 29 and 30.
Johannesburg teenager Sheldon van der Linde, who finished fourth in last year’s Audi Sport TT Cup championship (his international debut), was also quickest on the first day of testing for 2017’s ADAC TCR season in his new ProSport Audi RS3 LMS.
Sheldon’s older brother Kelvin has replaced Team Aust R8 LMS driver Pierre Kaffer for this year’s GT Masters Series, which he’ll commute to from another contracted drive he has in the Australian GT Series. Kelvin won the GT3 Masters Championship with team-mate Rene Rast in 2014.
He’s also hired to drive at the Nurburgring 24-hour in an Audi Sport Team Land R8.
The season openers for both TCR and GT Masters will share a race day with German Formula 4 at Oschersleben on April 29 and 30.