Kelvin Van Der Linde

He is a two-time champion of the ADAC GT Masters, having won the championship in 2014 and 2019, and won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 2017 and 2022. He made his formula racing debut in Formula E at the 2023 Diriyah ePrix, driving for ABT Cupra as a substitute for the injured Robin Frijns.

Kelvin van der Linde
Van der Linde at the Red Bull Ring in 2023
Nationality	South African German
Born	(1996-06-20) 20 June 1996 (age 27) Johannesburg, South Africa
Related to	Etienne van der Linde (uncle) Sheldon van der Linde (brother)
Formula E career
Debut season	2022–23
Current team	ABT CUPRA Formula E Team
Racing licence	FIA Platinum
Car number	4
Starts	3
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	16th in 2022–23
Previous series
2014–20 2015 2014 2013 2011–2012 2006–2010	ADAC GT Masters 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

In 2022 he initiated the process for acquiring the German citizenship after living in Kempten, Germany, since 2014. In early 2024 the process was completed.

 

Kelvin van der Linde, a South African, started his career in racing in kart racing at the age of eight in 2005.

In 2011, he became the youngest driver to compete in a National South African Circuit event at age 14 and also South Africa’s youngest National Champion at the age of 16 in 2012.

In 2013 he won the International Championship. At the age of 17, van der Linde became the youngest ever winner of the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup and became a Volkswagen-supported junior driver for the 2014 season. He became the youngest ADAC GT Masters champion at age 18 driving an Audi R8 LMS Ultra.

In 2015, van der Linde was promoted to Audi factory driver, winning the 2017 24 Hours of Nürburgring and Suzuka 10 Hours.

2021

In 2021, van der Linde competed in the 2021 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) for Abt Sportsline. He won four races and finished third in the drivers' championship. Going into the final round of the season, he was fighting for the drivers' championship title with Liam Lawson and Maximilian Götz.

During both of the final races of the Championship at the Norisring, van der Linde had similar incidents with Lawson. In the first race, van der Linde dived down the inside of Liam, with Liam finished in 3rd. In the second race the consequences were much more serious; Lawson's car was damaged in a first-lap collision with van der Linde, who again dived down the inside of Lawson, taking Lawson out of contention for the title as he finished 18th. van der Linde was then 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 after Mercedes issued team orders to the cars ahead of the latter to guarantee he finished 1st.

2022

Days before the final round of the 2021 DTM season, Abt Sportsline confirmed him as their driver for the 2022 season. After finishing ninth in points in 2022, van der Linde returned to the team for 2023.

ABT CUPRA Formula E Team (2023–)

2022–23 season

After Robin Frijns sustained a hand injury at the 2023 Mexico City ePrix, van der Linde was called upon to replace him at ABT Cupra for the rounds at Diriyah. In his first weekend in single-seater racing, the South African managed to finish 16th during the first race and 18th on Saturday, which he stated gave him a base to build upon for the following event.

2023–24 season

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 24 Hours of Nürburgring results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Ovr. Pos.	Class Pos.
2016	Prosport-Performance GmbH	Fidel Leib   Jonas Carlsson   Thomas Bolz	Porsche Cayman Pro4	SP6	4	DNF	DNF
2017	Audi Sport Team Land / Land-Motorsport	Connor De Phillippi   Christopher Mies   Markus Winkelhock	Audi R8 LMS	SP9	158	1st	1st
2018	Audi Sport Team Land	Christopher Mies   René Rast   Christopher Haase	Audi R8 LMS	SP9	133	5th	6th
2019	Audi Sport Team Land	Christopher Mies   René Rast   Christopher Haase	Audi R8 LMS Evo	SP9	139	DNF	DNF
2020	Audi Sport Team Land	Mattia Drudi   Christopher Mies   René Rast	Audi R8 LMS Evo	SP9	85	6th	6th
2021	Audi Sport Team Land	Christopher Mies   René Rast   Frédéric Vervisch	Audi R8 LMS Evo	SP9	47	DNF	DNF
2022	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Robin Frijns   Dries Vanthoor   Frédéric Vervisch	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	SP9	159	1st	1st
2023	ABT Sportsline	Marco Mapelli   Jordan Pepper   Nicki Thiim	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	SP9	160	9th	7th

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2018	Melbourne Performance Centre	Garth Tander   Frédéric Vervisch	Audi R8 LMS	Pro	241	27th	7th
2019	Melbourne Performance Centre	Garth Tander   Frédéric Vervisch	Audi R8 LMS	Pro	181	DNF	DNF
2020	Melbourne Performance Centre	Mattia Drudi   Markus Winkelhock	Audi R8 LMS Evo	Pro	308	18th	11th
2022	Melbourne Performance Centre	Nathanaël Berthon   Brad Schumacher	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	Pro-Am	290	4th	4th
2024	Melbourne Performance Centre	Christopher Haase   Liam Talbot	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	Pro	275	3rd	3rd

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)

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula E results

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

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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

^* Season still in progress.