Pepper bags his first DTM pole in the Zandvoort rain

Jordan Pepper produced an impressive performance in the rain in qualifying for race one in Zandvoort. The Lamborghini driver set the fastest time of 1:42.194 minutes on a wet track on Saturday morning. The newcomer from South Africa will now start a DTM race from the front of the grid for the first time.

"This is an emotional moment for me! When I saw the rain in the morning, I knew it could be a great opportunity for us. However, the track dried out relatively quickly. With this in mind, it was exactly the right decision to go for a flying lap early in the session. The team also did a perfect job of setting up the car for the wet conditions," said Pepper, who was rewarded for his maiden pole position with three points.

Starting race five of the season alongside Pepper on the front row of the grid will be Maro Engel. The Mercedes-AMG driver missed out on the top time by just 0.008 seconds, and afterwards revealed the reason behind his fine display: "My family is here this weekend. That makes it all the nicer for me to get second place on the grid. My daughter has wished for a win, and I will do everything I can to make that come true. Mixed weather is forecast for the race, so it will be exciting."

Pepper's team-mate Luca Engstler (Kempten) was third in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. Ricardo Feller was also in fine form, taking fourth place in his Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2. Ayhancan Güven ended the session in fifth in a Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Qualifying in the Dutch dunes took place on a wet track. While the rain did stop shortly after the start, and the surface dried out slightly, all the drivers remained on Pirelli's wet tyre until the end of the session. The DTM stars went in pursuit of the top time from the word go. However, a busy track made it difficult for them to put together a clear lap. Pepper did manage precisely that when he set the fastest time after seven minutes. Engstler narrowly missed out on the pole time, before being pushed down to third place by Engel shortly before the end of the session. Despite the challenging conditions, there was little to choose between the drivers, with the top ten separated by just 0.4 seconds.

Results are HERE