The young and the quick
DAINFERN- Kelvin van der Linde becomes youngest ever ADAC GT Masters pole-sitter and race winner.
Kelvin van der Linde, the 17-year-old motor racing phenomenon from Dainfern racked up yet another memorable milestone in his fledgling career.
This after he secured victory in race two of the opening round of the ADAC GT Masters in Oschersleben, Germany.
Sharing a Prosperia C Abt Audi R8 with Germany’s René Rast, the 2013 Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup champion and 2013 South African Motor Sportsman of the Year became the youngest ever GT Masters pole-sitter (in race one) and race winner.
The two Prosperia C Abt Audi drivers dominated the race to come home 2.4 seconds ahead of the Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Christian Engelhart (27) of Germany and Dutchman Jaap van Lagen (37).
The race got off to a dramatic start with a pile-up ahead of the first corner which immediately brought out the red flags. All seven drivers involved emerged relatively unscathed.
After a 30-minute delay, the race was restarted but over a reduced distance, with the time now limited to 48 minutes.
Rast, still in pole position, led off strongly with the pursuing pair of Austrian Dominik Baumann (21) in a BMW Z4 GT3 and Van Lagen in a Porsche were preoccupied with a private battle for second position. Van Lagen prevailed but was unable to pose any sort of threat to race leader Rast.
“I found the first half hour of the race quite nerve-wracking and was a bit concerned when I took over as race leader, as I didn’t know if I could hang on to P1 after the pit stop,” confessed Van der Linde. “But I then found myself further in front and just focused on finishing the race and managing the lead.”
Van der Linde’s co-driver, Rast had only praise for his team-mate. “Kelvin drove a fantastic race, didn’t make any mistakes and withstood massive pressure from the opposition,” he said. “Apart from that frightening incident at the start, it was a relatively straightforward race. I opened up a gap on the Porsche but never quite managed to shake him off.”
Van der Linde and Rast will contest all eight rounds of the series, which features races at famous circuits such as Zandvoort in Holland, and Nurburgring and Hockenheimring in Germany.
The next round of the championship is at Zandvoort on 10 and 11 May.
