Pepper starts strong

Driving the Blue Label Telecoms supported car, Pepper dominated qualifying to start each race of the opening round at Hockenheim from pole position. A well-judged start in the race on 3 May saw him lead from lights to flag with his closest rival more than three seconds behind at the end of the 11-lap race.

Sweden’s Victor Bouveng finished second with Germany’s Manuel Fahnauer coming home in third.

In a closely fought second race on the previous day, Pepper held the lead from the start and although he was under pressure for most of the race he

was never headed and pulled away near the end to take the flag 1.2 seconds clear of Fahnauer and Bouveng.

Pepper was delighted with the start to his season. “Victory in the opening race of the season is always rather special,” he said. “My coach Lee Thompson from Racecraft, who has been supporting me since my saloon car debut, played a major role in the success.

“We worked a lot at the start of the year and it has really helped improve my performance in qualifying. I made a perfect start and was then able to open a bit of a lead over Victor and Manuel,” he said.

After his victory he spoke about his hopes. “A double victory to start the season. The start of the Scirocco R-Cup season could not have gone any better for me. I feel very comfortable in the car. It goes without saying that the championship is my main goal this year.

“I said that even before this weekend. At least I now know that I am in good form, but there are still another eight races to come. At the moment I am just pleased to have the points in the bag and am looking forward to the next race,” Pepper said.

He thanked the support from Gavin Varejes and Blue Label Telecoms, Pepson Plastics, his mother Cheryl and sisters Tasmin and Morgan.

The next round is at Oschersleben from 16 to 18 May.