'Bentley Boy' Jordan Pepper signs for T3 Motorsport

• South African completes line-up in Bentley Continental GT3
• Return to ADAC GT Masters for proven race winner
• Pepper won the Bathurst 12 Hour with the Bentley factory team in February

Munich: Bentley works driver Jordan Pepper (23, ZA) completes the T3 Motorsport squad for the 2020 ADAC GT Masters. The South African will be sharing the cockpit of the Saxony-based outfit's newly acquired Bentley Continental GT3 with Constantin Schöll (21, AUT). The ADAC GT Masters season opens on the weekend of 31st July - 2nd August at the Lausitzring. All 14 Super Sports Car League races will be broadcast live and in full on the SPORT1 TV channel. Alternatively, they can be watched online via the livestream on sport1.de, adac.de/motorsport and youtube.com/adac.

"We are very pleased that Jordan Pepper will be competing for us in the ADAC GT Masters," says T3 Motorsport team boss Jens Feucht. "Jordan has already shown in the international arena that he is one of the fastest in the current crop of GT contestants. As a Bentley works driver, he brings a wealth of experience which we certainly hope to benefit from in our first season fielding the Continental GT3. He and his co-driver Constantin Schöll make a formidable duo that should be capable of springing some surprise results."

Pepper started his career in karting and came to Europe in 2013 after initial one-make cup successes in his home country. After winning the title in the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup, the South African graduated to the ADAC GT Masters in 2015. In his debut season, he chalked up a victory driving an Audi at Hockenheim; aged 19 years, 2 months and 5 days, he became the third-youngest race winner in the history of the Super Sports Car League. The 2016 ADAC GT Masters was the first season in which Pepper drove a Bentley. In the summer of 2018, he was offered a contract as a works driver by the prestigious British brand on the basis of his strong performances. In February of this year, he celebrated his greatest international success to date with 2017 ADAC GT Masters champion Jules Gounon by winning the Bathurst 12 Hour.

"It's great to have this opportunity to compete in the ADAC GT Masters again," says Pepper. "This is the series in which I gained my first experience of GT racing, and without that, I certainly wouldn't be where I am now. Even though I haven't competed in the ADAC GT Masters for the past three years, I've always followed the races with interest; it is one of the world's most competitive GT3 series. I'm delighted to be returning as a Bentley driver, and I'm confident that the spectacular Continental GT3 is going to cause a sensation here too. The team are promoting the Bentley comeback with the hashtag #BringTheThunder." The 'Bentley Boy', who lives in Kempten in the Allgäu region of Germany, can't wait to get started: "I am highly motivated by the prospect of working with T3 Motorsport and my new partner Constantin Schöll. It's a very young team, but they are extremely ambitious. I don't know Constantin personally yet, but he has already shown what he is capable of in ADAC GT4 Germany. When I competed in the ADAC GT Masters for the first time in 2015, I was the younger, inexperienced driver, and I learned a lot from Nicky Thiim. Now the situation is reversed, so I would like to help the team and Constantin as much as possible with my knowledge and experience. I think that the Continental GT3 should be competitive on all tracks. The car has a great chassis and very good aerodynamics. Another key advantage of the Continental GT3 is the tyre management. I'm hoping that we will be able to post strong results by mid-season at the latest."