Kelvin van der Linde continues to impress in his first season of senior circuit racing. In round two of the Pro Tour at Zwartkops on Saturday, the 14-year-old Dainfern College pupil was the class of the Goldwagen Challenge field in class B, easily winning race one from pole position and setting an new lap record in race two when he led by five seconds before retiring with electrical problems.
Following his senior circuit racing debut win in the opening round of the Pro Tour at Phakisa Freeway in the Free State in February, Van der Linde was irresistible in his Ferodo/Autoquip VW Golf 1. He was quickest in his class in qualifying, beating second-placed Quentin Thompson (VW Golf) by more than a second.
He had a comfortable two and a half second lead after the first two laps of a wet race one (for classes B and D combined), when the safety car was deployed, and went on to beat Rory Eland (VW Polo) into second place by 10,56 sec. Rory Atkinson (VW Polo) was a distant third, 11,11 sec behind after 10 laps of the 2,4-km Zwartkops circuit west of Pretoria.
It was more of the same in race two, with Van der Linde quickly opening up a five-second lead over the next car and setting a new lap record of 1 min 15,47 sec on lap four. He was then sidelined when a wire broke on the TPS sensor and was eventually classified as 18th and five laps down on the winner, Atkinson.
His quickest lap time was nearly nine tenths of a second quicker than the next best, set by Atkinson.
Van der Linde’s next outing is in the second round of the WesBank Super Series at Killarney in Cape Town on April 2, when he will be behind the wheel of the Ferodo Racing Team VW Polo Vivo in the hotly-contested Engen Volkswagen Cup. He made history in the opening round at Kyalami on March 5 when he became the youngest driver ever to compete in a South African senior national championship motor race. He also stunned the establishment with a superb debut performance, scoring to two fourth place finishes and third overall for the day.
STORY COURTESY OF PETER BURROUGHES COMMUNICATIONS
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