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Iain Pepper
Michael van Rooyen
Mathew Hodges
Nic Clarke
Gennaro Bonafede
Devin Robertson
Tasmin Pepper
Jordan Pepper |
Pepper Racing riding
high
Ian Pepper has a
competitive career spanning well over 20-years and today he’s not only
the reigning Bridgestone Production Car Class T champion, but he also
runs a team of young drivers from his Pepper Racing workshop in Edenvale
who are constantly benefiting from his vast experience.
Driving the PG Glass
backed VW Golf GTI Pepper lies a handy second in this year’s overall
title race with three events remaining. What’s significant about this is
that it is class T machinery ahead of class A. It’s a feat Pepper is
particularly proud of.
Former kart star Michael van Rooyen in the Rustenburg Steel Construction
Golf, has recovered well from his vicious accident at Kyalami in July
and raced a brand new, hence untested car at the last round. “They did a
brilliant job building a new car so quickly. It felt good to finish well
and I’m hoping for a podium finish Zwartkops,” he said.Although it is
his first season in Production Cars, he’s adapted to the cut and thrust
competition well and has already scored a podium finish.
Pepper Racing also prepares cars for a number of drivers in the Engen
Volkswagen Cup. Pepper’s PG Glass teammate Mathew Hodges scored a fine
win at the last round in Welkom. “We’ve had a rough run of bad luck
lately so it was good to be back in the winner’s circle.” The timely win
elevated him to fourth and with four rounds left he’s still in
contention for the title.
One driver who has learnt fast this year is Nic Clarke in the Central
Technical Services entry. The son of well known former Group N and
Historic racer Chris Clarke, he overcame a shaky start as he found his
feet to quickly become a regular top six finisher. “I’m proud of him. He
worked hard to get there and he improves with each outing,” says Pepper
The two members of the Champion Young Drivers team, Gennaro Bonafede and
Devin Robertson, are also in the Pepper camp and have been bang on pace.
At the last Zwartkops race they scored a memorable 1-2 finish and like
Hodges, both have come up through karts and Bonafede is leading the
championship with an 18-point advantage while Robertson is not only the
youngest driver in the series, but he’s also the leading ‘Rookie’ driver
in his first season of racing outside of karts.
Both Hodges and Robertson raced the German ADAC Polo Cup round at the
famous street circuit at Norisring, Germany in June.
Although not being run by the Pepper racing team, 18-year-old Tasmin
Pepper is a leading light in the newly introduced Formula Volkswagen
national challenge. Having missed the first round at Kyalami she then
joined the Wesbank backed VMP Team. It has been a busy year for the
18-year old as she has also been contesting races in the Pacific Formula
BMW championship. She also raced in the final round of the Engen Supa
Kart national championship for the works Terry Moss run Engen Xtreme
TonyKart team. “Formula VW is not racing at Zwartkops so the kart was a
way of keeping me racing fit before the Singapore race,” said the
Midrand schoolgirl who is also writing matric this year.
She’s put in impressive performances in the last few rounds of the
Formula Volkswagen series since she’s been working closely with former
Formula Ford champion Brett Mayberry who also has the responsibility of
overseeing the Pepper Racing fleet on race weekends.
So far this year she’s had a fourth place finish and is determined to
claim a podium before the season end and she’ll be racing the F/BMW
event supporting the night race Grand Prix in Singapore. |
