Kelvin van der Linde
Kelvin van der Linde (born June 20, 1996 in Johannesburg ) is a South African racing car driver . He is the nephew of the former Formula 3 and Formula 3000 driver Etienne van der Linde and the grandson of Hennie van der Linde . His younger brother Sheldon van der Linde is also active in motorsport.
He has been competing in the ADAC GT Masters since 2014 , which he won in his debut season together with René Rast .
Career
Van der Linde started his motorsport career in 2006 in South African karting . There he won the South African Kart Championship in 2008 and 2010.
In 2011, at the age of 14, he became the youngest driver ever to take part in a South African motorsport event for seniors. In the same year he won the rookie classification in the South African Volkswagen Cup and finished his debut season third overall.
In 2012, at the age of 16 years and 128 days, he became the youngest champion in the South African VW Polo Cup. He replaced his uncle Etienne van der Linde as the youngest champion of all time.
In 2013 he finally won his first international championship. With 5 wins in 9 races he was able to secure the championship in the last race of the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup . Also in this championship he was the youngest championship winner of this cup. By winning this championship, he was supported by VW as a junior driver in 2014.
In 2014 he competed for the Prosperia C. Abt Racing team alongside René Rast in the ADAC GT Masters . After achieving his first pole position in his first qualifying session , he finished second in his first race. In his second race he achieved his first victory. This makes him the youngest pole sitter and youngest winner in the ADAC GT Masters. Two more victories followed during the season. He finished the season as a champion.
In the 2015 season he and his new team-mate Stefan Wackerbauer competed again for Audi in the ADAC GT Masters. This time he could only finish one race as the winner, which at the end of the season was only enough for championship place 14. In 2016 he switched to Car Collection Motorsport , but did not achieve a top position alongside Isaac Tutumlu . In 2017 he competed for Aust Motorsport , won a race with Markus Pommer at the Nürburgring and finished the season 5th in the overall standings. In 2018 he switched to Land Motorsport , for which he competed together with his brother Sheldon van der Linde . They won two races that season and finished second overall. In 2019, Kelvin van der Linde was finally able to win the overall GT Masters standings for the second time. He drove together with Patric Niederhauser for the HCB-Rutronik team and won three races.
In 2017 he won the Nürburgring 24-hour race after a rain chaos shortly before the end.
Career stations
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Individual evidence
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from March 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Van der Linde, Kelvin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | South African racing car driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 20, 1996 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Johannesburg , South Africa |