Jordan Pepper believes Team WRT left Paul Ricard with the best result available after finishing fourth in the GTWC Endurance Cup season opener. Now, as the series heads to Monza, he says the team must apply the same mindset if it wants to remain in the championship fight.
The BMW squad started the six-hour race from 10th on the grid and worked its way forward to take P4, just missing out on the podium. Comtoyou Racing won the season opener with its #7 Aston Martin after a late move for the lead, while the #58 Garage 59 McLaren completed the overall podium from the Gold Cup.
Speaking exclusively to Pit Debrief ahead of Round 2 at Monza, Pepper said Team WRT extracted everything available from its GTWC Endurance Cup opening weekend in Paul Ricard.
“I think Paul Ricard’s P4 was the absolute maximum. We could have pulled out that race. So on that side, very happy,” he said. “I think we’re very pleased. For sure, being a six-hour race, there’s more points on offer. So you don’t want to give up too much too early.”
“Obviously last year they got off to a little bit of a better start by winning it. But it’s a championship of maximising your potential when you have the opportunity to do so. And I think that’s what we did.”
Team WRT keeps focus on execution
The South African’s assessment reflected a pragmatic start to the campaign. Team WRT did not repeat its 2025 Paul Ricard victory, but Pepper felt the team still protected its championship position by taking strong points when outright victory did not look realistic.
That approach now carries into Monza, where Pepper expects another weekend built around execution rather than assumptions about raw speed.
“So coming into Monza, I think the goal is the same. It seems like we don’t quite have the pace like we would hope as a brand. But at the same time, we’ve got a very strong driver pairing, very equal across the board in that sense.”
“And that I think is the strength we can rely on. Also, it’s a race that opens up strategy possibilities and we know with Team WRT we’ve got the best team for that. They’ve shown in the Monza races in the last two seasons how they’ve made the difference in that situation.”
Strategy in Monza could offer an opportunity
Monza often rewards more than outright pace, and Pepper expects strategy to play a key role again. With traffic, pit timing and race execution all shaping Endurance Cup results, he believes Team WRT can use its operational strength to stay in contention.
The team already showed at Paul Ricard that it could recover from a lower starting position and still leave with a strong result. At Monza, Pepper wants another clean weekend before the championship heads towards its biggest race of the year at Spa.
“So for us, I think getting away with some points again, heading to Spa would be the goal. If we can somehow make a podium or win, for sure we’ll take it with both hands.”
“But we won’t be disappointed unless we don’t execute to what we think our full potential is.”
“So if that’s a P8, then we have to for sure get a P8. If that’s a win, we get a win. And that’s basically how [Paul] Ricard went.”
“And I think that same mentality is what’s going to hopefully lead us to stay in the fight for the championship all the way to the end.”
