A perfect start to the 2025 DTM season for TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT supported by Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse. After two races, the Austrian team leaves the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben with Jordan Pepper as championship leader, a podium and strong qualifying results in the bag.

In qualifying for Saturday’s race, GRT made people sit up and take notice for the first time. Pepper set the second-fastest time of all participants in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 with the golden TGI design. The South African also drove strongly in the race. He maintained his position and after a quick pit stop, the 28-year-old even fought for victory for several laps. As overtaking is notoriously difficult at Oschersleben, Pepper settled for second place and finished on the podium in the season opener.

Last year’s winner Luca Engstler also put in a good performance with eighth place in qualifying and improved by two positions at the start. At the pitstop, however, the 24-year-old was clocked at 51.2 km/h due to the incorrect programming of the pitstop limiter. For this speeding offence, which was not his fault, he had to drive through the penalty lap and lost five positions. The German driver finished the race in tenth place.

It was a similar picture at the front on Sunday. Pepper again took second place on the grid, but had to start the race with ten kilograms of success ballast for his podium finish the previous day. He held on to second place until the first pitstop, when two of his rivals overtook him. Despite gaining a position in the meantime and a strong performance by the GRT pit crew, Pepper had to settle for fourth place in this race. No problem for the South African, who thus collected important championship points and left the first race weekend as the leader.

His team-mate Engstler started from sixth position on Sunday, also drove a faultless race and ultimately crossed the finish line in seventh place. After the first weekend, the driver from the Allgäu is eighth overall in the standings and his points have contributed to TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT being third in the team standings.

In just under a month, the second DTM race will take place at the Lausitzring (23rd to 25th May). For GRT and the two DTM drivers, however, the opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch is already on the programme next weekend.

Jordan Pepper (RSA)

#63 TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT

Qualifying 1: P2 – Race 1: P2

Qualifying 2: P2 – Race 2: P4

 

Jordan Pepper: “The first and extremely intensive weekend is over! I had full confidence in myself and the team that we would be in the mix at the front. It seemed like I was flying under the radar of some people, but that was perfect for me. At one point I thought we could win the first race, but our guys probably made the best pit stop of the past three years and Lucas Auer was still ahead of me. Without taking too many risks, nothing more was possible. The fact that we are competitive here was already a great achievement, but second place twice in qualifying, a podium, fourth place and the championship lead are simply incredible! The biggest thanks go to the entire TGI team and of course my Grasser team. We are just getting started, because we want to come back even stronger at the Lausitzring.”

 

Luca Engstler (GER)

#19 TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT

Qualifying 1: P8 – Race 1: P10

Qualifying 2: P6 – Race 2: P7

 

Luca Engstler: “I’m very happy about this weekend. It was an incredible team performance. It’s great fun to work with the same squad weekend after weekend in the second year. Both I as a driver and the entire team have made great progress and are on the right track. I am really proud to be here and look forward to countless more races this season with this squad.”

 

Gottfried Grasser, Team Principal GRT: “A really sensational start to the season in Oschersleben! You always have some doubts beforehand as to whether the work over the winter was good and purposeful. But I don’t think there are any doubts now. We put our preparations into action well and when you leave a weekend as championship leader, it was definitely first class. A big compliment to both drivers and also to the entire pitstop crew for their super improvement compared to last year. I’m really proud and this weekend has made me want more DTM.”