Kelvin van der Linde

Kelvin van der Linde
Nationality	South African
Born	(1996-06-20) 20 June 1996 (age 25) Johannesburg, South Africa
Related to	Etienne van der Linde (uncle) Sheldon van der Linde (brother)
ADAC GT Masters career
Debut season	2014
Current team	C. Abt Racing
Car number	1
Starts	84
Wins	10
Poles	7
Fastest laps	1
Previous series
2015 2014 2013 2011–2012 2006–2010	TCR International Series Blancpain Sprint Series Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup Volkswagen Cup South Africa Karting
Championship titles
2014, 2019 2013 2011–2012 2008, 2010	ADAC GT Masters Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup Volkswagen Cup South Africa South African Karting Championship

Kelvin van der Linde (born 20 June 1996) is a South African racing driver currently competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, Asian Le Mans Series and GT World Challenge Europe. He made his GT Masters debut in 2014, also winning the championship that year, a feat he repeated in 2019. He won the 2017 24 Hours of Nürburgring.

Racing career[]

Van Der Linde placed fourth in the 2017 Australian GT Championship driving an Audi R8 LMS

Born and raised in South Africa, Kelvin van der Linde started his racing career in Karting at the age of 8 in 2005. Since then, he has won multiple National and International Titles, as well as one of the Worlds biggest Endurance races, the 24H of Nürburgring.

In 2011 he became the youngest ever driver to compete in a National South African Circuit event at age 14 and then went on to become South Africa’s youngest ever National Champion at the age of 16 years and 128 days the following year.

2013 was a breakthrough year when he won his first International Championship. At the age of 17, Van Der Linde became the youngest ever winner of the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup and earned his place as a Volkswagen supported Junior driver for the 2014 season. Leading on from the previous year’s success, he wrapped up back to back European titles when he became the youngest ever ADAC GT Masters Champion at age 18 driving an Audi R8 LMS Ultra.

In 2015 Van Der Linde was promoted to the role of Audi factory driver, winning some of the world’s most prestigious events in the years that followed, including the 2017 Nürburgring 24H and Suzuka 10H.

Van Der Linde competed in the 2021 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Abt Sportsline. He won four races and finished third in the drivers' championship. He started the final race of the season fighting for the drivers' championship title with Liam Lawson and Maximilian Götz. During the race, Van Der Linde was involved in controversial duels with both Lawson and Götz. Lawson's car was damaged in a first-lap collision with Van Der Linde, who was given a five-second time penalty as a result. Towards the end of the race, Van Der Linde suffered a puncture in a battle with Götz and lost his chances to win the title, which eventually went to Götz.^[1]

Racing record[]

Career summary[]

^† As Van Der Linde was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
* Season still in progress.

Complete ADAC GT Masters results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete TCR International Series results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results[]

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2018	Jamec Pem Racing	Garth Tander Frédéric Vervisch	Audi R8 LMS	APP	241	27th	7th
2019	Audi Sport Team Valvoline	Garth Tander Frédéric Vervisch	Audi R8 LMS	APP	181	DNF	DNF

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Engine	Class	No.	1	2	3	4	Pos.	Points
2021	Phoenix Racing	Matthias Kaiser Nicki Thiim Simon Trummer	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	P2	5	DUB 1 3	DUB 2 3	ABU 1 4	ABU 2 3	4th	57

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References[]

External links[]

• Kelvin van der Linde career summary at DriverDB.com
• Official website