Kelvin van der Linde, the 17-year-old motor racing driver from Dainfern in Gauteng, racked up yet another memorable milestone in his young career with victory in race two of the opening round of the ADAC GT Masters in Oschersleben, Germany on Sunday. Sharing a Prosperia C […]
By Tarek Ramchani Oschersleben is hosting the first round of the 2014 ADAC GT Masters season this weekend. The Audi brand is very well represented with cars from three different Audi Sport customer racing teams. Five Audi R8 LMS ultra cars are taking part in […]
The Audi duo of Kelvin van der Linde (17, South Africa) and René Rast (27, Germany) have got their season off to the perfect start at the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. The two Audi R8 LMS ultra team-mates secured pole position for both Saturday and Sunday (live coverage on kabel eins commencing at 11:45) in the season opener of the Super Sports Car League. Newcomer van der Linde could not have wished for a better start to his ADAC GT Masters career: at just 17 years of age, the South African rookie has become the youngest ever pole-sitter in the history of the series.
Kelvin van der Linde booked himself the front slot on the grid for Saturday’s race in a thrilling qualifying session. The Audi driver twice went to the top of the timesheets only to be displaced by Maximilian Buhk (21, Germany) in an H.T.P. Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and then by TONINO Team Herberth’s Robert Renauer (29, Germany). On the third run, he then secured pole position, but only by the narrowest of margins: Christian Engelhart (27, Germany) in a GW IT Racing Team // Schütz Motorsport Porsche 911 staged a late attack but had to settle for P2 by the narrowest of margins – just 0.002 seconds. Meanwhile, Renauer and Buhk will be starting Saturday’s race from the second row. The two Audi R8s driven by Florian Stoll (32, Germany, kfzteile24 APR Motorsport) and Stefan Wackerbauer (18, Germany, Prosperia C Abt Racing) share Row 3.
“We had a great free practice and the team supplied me with an excellent car for qualifying,” said a delighted van der Linde. “René took our Audi to pole position for the second race too, so the prospects for the next two days couldn’t be better. Our Audi was strong in today’s sessions, even over the distance. If we get through the first lap OK, we should have a really good race.”
In qualifying for Sunday’s race, van der Linde’s co-driver René Rast was not to be outdone, although his pole was a much harder-fought affair. Rast was involved in a tight scrap with fellow Prosperia C Abt driver Nicki Thiim (25, Denmark) before ultimately prevailing. On the final qualifying lap, ex-champion Peter Kox (50, NL) split the Audi duo to park his Blancpain Racing Lamborghini Gallardo on the front row. The second row for Sunday’s race consists of Thiim and Dominik Baumann (21, Austria) in his PIXUM Team Schubert BMW Z4. On Row 3 are Jaap van Lagen (37, NL) in a GW IT Racing Team // Schütz Motorsport Porsche 911 and Jens Klingmann (23, Germany) in another PIXUM Team Schubert BMW.
“We can feel well satisfied,” said Rast after notching up his maiden pole in the ADAC GT Masters. “During the official tests here, we developed an excellent setup, and I managed to post a very good lap time in qualifying. And a few words of praise for my co-driver Kelvin: he’s only just turned 17, has hardly got to know the car yet, and yet he still manages to put it on pole. That’s quite some achievement.”
South African driver Kelvin van der Linde has won the road safety presentation competition, which formed part of the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy. His video will now feature on the FIA website to help promote road safety worldwide. The competition was held at […]
Kelvin van der Linde, 17, who won the 2013 International VW Scirocco R-Cup against drivers from 24 countries, has become the youngest recipient of the prestigious Bridgestone / SAGMJ Motor Sportsman of the Year award. The award, which was made yesterday evening at a function […]
The ADAC GT Masters held official Test Days at Oschersleben on Tuesday and Wednesday. Two Audi Sport customer racing teams took part with a total of three Audi R8 LMS ultra cars.
Two cars were entered by Prosperia C.ABT Racing and a single car from YACO Racing.
The Prosperia C.ABT Racing team is once again planning a three car assault for the ADAC GT Masters, aiming to repeat their 2013 teams’ championship title. The team only entered two cars for the official testing.
Prosperia C.ABT Racing entered their #10 and #11 Audi R8 LMS ultra cars for the two days of testing. The #10 entry was driven by René Rast and young South African, Kelvin van der Linde. The #11 entry had Nicki Thiim and Fabian Hamprecht behind the wheel.
The Audi Sport customer racing teams showed good pace during the testing on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Three sessions were held on Tuesday. The first session saw the #11 Prosperia car in third, followed by YACO Racing in fifth and the #10 Prosperia car in fifteenth. The first session saw a mix in conditions, limiting valuable running for many teams. YACO Racing was fourth fastest during the second session and the two Prosperia C.ABT Racing cars placed sixth and seventh, #10 ahead of #11. Kelvin van der Linde set the fastest Audi time on Wednesday during the third session, placing second in the time sheets. His teammates in the #11 Prosperia R8 LMS ultra were fourth fastest and YACO Racing was tenth.
The final day of testing concluded with two more test sessions on Wednesday. Kelvin van der Linde again showed good pace by setting the fastest time during the fourth session. YACO Racing were fourth fastest and Prosperia #11 was seventh. The #10 Prosperia entry was second fastest during the fifth and final session, ahead of YACO Racing in fourth.
Oschersleben will be hosting the opening round of the ADAC GT Masters from 25-27 April.
