Lamborghini factory driver Jordan Pepper has slammed Rene Rast following their collision within the DTM race on the Sachsenring on Sunday, claiming the principles are different for the three-time champion.
Rast, from Team Schubert BMW, was attempting to overtake Pepper for eleventh place when he hit the DTM rookie Grasser Lamborghini on Turn 1, causing it to hit the rear of Marco Wittmann in front.
The impact was so severe that each Pepper and Wittmann needed to retire from the race immediately, with their cars badly damaged within the collision. Meanwhile, Rast was in a position to proceed the race without major drama, scoring six crucial points for tenth place.
In the immediate aftermath of the accident, Pepper firmly placed the blame squarely on Rast, criticising him for his aggressive driving which has already resulted in three reprimands and a five-place grid penalty for the 2024 season.
“In all my years of karting, I’ve never been hit so hard into a corner by someone who’s a three-time champion,” he said.
“To be honest, what he did at the Nürburgring with Maro is quite rude” [Engel]what he did now, how he races the entire season. It looks like there's a algorithm for Rene Rast and there's a algorithm for the remainder.
Jordan Pepper, Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3 and Marco Wittmann, Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3
Photo: Burkard Kasan
“It sucks because we’re a team, not a team with an infinite budget. The guys put in a lot exertions and energy that for 2 cars to get damaged like that in a gravel trap is unacceptable.
“First of all I feel sorry for the guys, but there's nothing I can do. He hit me so hard that I was basically spinning around trying to catch him, and then I hit Marco in the process. It sucks, it's not a good way to end my DTM weekend.”
Schubert BMW driver Wittmann was initially furious with Pepper and pushed him away when he tried to catch as much as him within the gravel trap.
He was later seen throwing down the gloves in frustration as he was well heading in the right direction for a superb result after tactically delaying a compulsory tyre change until the ultimate minutes of his pit stop.
However, after watching a replay of the incident, Wittmann went to Pepper to apologise for his behaviour and concluded that the accident was attributable to his team-mate Rasta.
“I was very moved and angry [at Pepper] at the beginning, because of course he hit me,” Wittmann explained in an interview with Motorsport.com, Motorsport-Total.com.
“In my opinion, he didn't make a mistake. He braked normally and turned in just when he had to turn in the first corner. So in my opinion, it's clearly Rene's fault.”
Jordan Pepper, Team Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3
Photo: Alexander Trienitz
Rast, meanwhile, said over the radio that Pepper moved while braking, and maintained his innocence while talking to media immediately after the race.
“I have to think about it again. Of course, I only experienced it from the car,” Rast, who qualified twentieth and last, told Motorsport-Total.com.
“I braked at the first corner and turned inside, and at that moment Jordan closed the door. I was surprised and could do nothing but choose the inside. Then the door was closed to me.”
Pepper defended himself in response to Rast's comments, saying that the primary right-hander on the Sachsenring is designed in order that in a GT3 automobile “you brake and turn into the corner at the same time”, arguing that he couldn’t be criticised for “moving under braking” in the normal sense.
Magistrates investigated the accident of the three but concluded that “it is not possible to clearly determine who was 100 percent at fault.”
The BMW and Lamborghini drivers need to take different lines at Turn 1 because of its nature, so “the stewards were unable to determine whether it was a case of 'driving under braking', which would have cleared Rast, or the track Pepper always drives, which would have put Rast at fault,” in line with a press release from the German Motor Sport Association (DMSB) given to Motorsport-Total.com.
