Why Jordan Pepper was furious after colliding with Jack Aitken’s teammate, what bothers his team boss, and why Ben Green was not penalized
Jordan Pepper was very upset after retiring from Sunday’s DTM race at the Sachsenring: Given the collision between Jack Aitken and Thomas Preining, the Grasser Lamborghini driver could have been clear leader in the championship had he not been knocked out of the race by Aitken’s Emil Frey Ferrari teammate Ben Green in an incident in the second corner while battling for fourth place.
“I’m just disappointed because I’m racing against a guy who isn’t fighting for the championship,” said Pepper, who is now third in the overall standings, just six points behind. “And the way he had to race against me was just a bit unacceptable for me.”
What does he mean by that? “He made a suicide dive in the last corner – and if I had turned in, he would have spun me around,” Pepper told ran.de, describing the events leading up to the incident, which were not shown on TV. “Then I really thought he would show some respect in the first corner, but of course not. That’s a bit disappointing.”
Pepper on Green: “Drove where there was no space”
The two drove wheel to wheel into the right-hand corner after the start and finish: Pepper had the better inside line, but Green didn’t give up. “I made the space tight, but he drove where there was no space and positioned his car where it shouldn’t be,” Pepper explains.
Then came the fateful contact when Green slammed his front end into Pepper’s right rear wheel. “The Ferrari has a huge front flap. He drove into my rear left and, of course, we suffered a puncture.”
Jordan Pepper had to retire his TGI by GRT Lamborghini with a puncture after early contact with Ben Green, whilst battling for a net fourth position. Lucas Auer is back in the lead of the DTM standings, after finishing ninth.
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Pepper, who slowly drove his Lamborghini back to the pits, immediately complained over the radio: “What is that guy doing?” Later, he said: “I probably should have just let him drive.”
Why Pepper couldn’t continue driving
But why didn’t Pepper resume the race? “It would have been pointless because I was a lap behind,” he said. And according to team boss Gottfried Grasser, more than just the right rear tire was damaged. “The track rod was bent,” said the Austrian. “Replacing it would have taken ten minutes.”
Grasser stands behind Pepper – and points to the fact that Green drives for a direct title rival’s team. “I would like to see teams being told that a sister car has no place in a championship battle,” he says. “I don’t think there was any intention behind it, but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.”
Green “hit Pepper from behind and then slashed his tire,” says the Lamborghini team boss, who is clear about who is to blame. “Jordan gave him plenty of space, you can’t do more than that.”
Emil Frey’s technical director defends himself: “We don’t want that.”
What does Emil Frey’s technical director Jürg Flach have to say about his driver colliding with a title rival of all people? “We always try to avoid that and certainly don’t want to influence anything,” the Swiss clarifies. “Our drivers have no orders to take other title contenders out of the race. That is certainly not our intention, and we don’t want that. We want fair sport.“
He sees the incident itself somewhat differently than Grasser: ”The maneuver was hard, Pepper didn’t leave Ben any room after turn 1. Then they turned into turn 2, and Pepper pulled over relatively sharply, so that Ben actually had no room – and they were practically level.”
Why wasn’t Green penalized?
He is “sorry” about Pepper’s flat tire and “the other drivers should stay out of the title fight,” but it’s also about the team standings. “And every point taken away from a direct opponent helps, of course.”
Why wasn’t Green penalized by race control for the collision? Race director Sven Stoppe apparently sees the incident in a similar way to Flach and attributes partial blame for the collision to Pepper. He had already pulled in and didn’t leave enough space, even though Green was level with the center axis of the Lamborghini with the front of the Ferrari until he turned into the corner.