Manufacturing facility Lamborghini driver Jordan Pepper blasted Rene Rast after their collision in Sunday’s DTM race on the Sachsenring, saying the principles are completely different for the three-time champion.
Schubert BMW’s Rast was attempting to overhaul Pepper for eleventh when he tagged the Grasser Lamborghini of the DTM debutant into Flip 1, sending him crashing into the again of Marco Wittmann, who was working forward of them.
The influence was so extreme that each Pepper and Wittmann needed to instantly retire from the race, with their automobiles sustaining heavy injury within the collision. Rast, in the meantime, was in a position to proceed with none main drama, bagging six essential factors in tenth.
Talking within the speedy aftermath of the crash, Pepper firmly put the blame on Rast for the incident, calling him out for the type of aggressive driving that has already seen him choose up three reprimands and consequently a five-place grid drop in 2024.
“In all my years from my go-karts to now, I’ve by no means been hit so laborious right into a nook by somebody who’s a three-time champion,” he mentioned.
“It’s fairly disrespectful, to be trustworthy, what he did in Nurburgring with Maro [Engel], what he has accomplished now, how he races all season. It looks like there’s a rulebook for Rene Rast and there’s a rulebook for the remaining.
Jordan Pepper, Grasser Racing Workforce Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3 and Marco Wittmann, Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3
Photograph by: Burkard Kasan
“It sucks a lot as a result of we’re with a group, we’re not a limiteless funds group. The blokes put in a lot laborious work and energy, to finish up with two automobiles broken like that within the gravel entice is unacceptable.
“I really feel sorry for the blokes in the beginning however there’s completely nothing I can do. He hit me so laborious that I used to be mainly spinning round attempting to catch it after which I hit Marco within the course of. It sucks, not a great way to finish my weekend in DTM.”
Schubert BMW driver Wittmann was initially furious with Pepper, pushing the South African again after he tried to strategy him within the gravel entice.
He was additionally later seen throwing his gloves away in frustration, as he was on track for a robust end after tactically delaying his obligatory tyre change to the ultimate minutes of the pit window.
However after watching a replay of what occurred, Wittmann went to Pepper to apologise for his behaviour and concluded that the crash had been triggered by his personal team-mate Rast.
“I used to be very emotional and indignant [at Pepper] at the start as a result of he was in fact the one who hit me,” Wittmann defined to Motorsport.com’s sister title Motorsport-Complete.com .
“For my part, he did not make a mistake. He braked usually and turned in simply when you need to flip in for the primary nook. So, for me, the blame clearly lies with Rene.”
Jordan Pepper, Grasser Racing Workforce Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3
Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz
In the meantime, Rast was heard saying over group radio that Pepper had moved underneath braking, and maintained his innocence whereas speaking to the media instantly after the race.
“I’ve to take a look at that once more. In fact, I solely skilled it from the automotive,” Rast, who certified twentieth and final, advised Motorsport-Complete.com.
“I braked for the primary nook and turned to the within, and at that second Jordan closed the door. I used to be shocked by it and could not do something besides select the within. It was then closed to me.”
Pepper defended himself in response to Rast’s feedback, saying that the opening right-hander on the Sachsenring is designed in such a manner that you simply “brake and switch into the nook on the similar time” in a GT3 automotive. He subsequently justified that he couldn’t be criticised for ‘shifting underneath braking’ within the conventional sense.
The stewards investigated the crash between the trio, however deemed that it was “not doable to obviously outline who’s 100 per cent in charge”.
BMW and Lamborghini drivers need to take completely different traces into Flip 1 as a result of nature of the nook, subsequently “the stewards couldn’t distinguish whether or not it was a case of ‘shifting underneath braking, which might clear Rast of any wrongdoing or a line that Pepper all the time drives, which might blame Rast”, in response to an announcement issued to Motorsport-Complete.com by the German Motor Sport Affiliation (DMSB).
