6 May 2013
Teenager Kelvin van der Linde flew the South African flag high at the opening round of the international Volkswagen Scirocco-R Cup at Hockenheim in Germany on Saturday with an impressive fourth place on his first visit to the historic German circuit.
It was the 16-year-old’s his first outing in the international one-make series, which is being contested by 19 young drivers from 10 countries. Former drivers from Formula 1, DTM, rallying and other motorsport disciplines, as well as former champions from other sports, like skiing, and media personalities also take part in the races.
Victory went to former German Touring Masters (DTM) champion and ex-Formula One driver Nicola Larini (49) of Italy, who was competing in the Legends Cup for former winners of the DTM and guest drivers from other racing disciplines.
Second, and the first of the regular Scirocco R-Cup contenders, who are aged between 16 and 22, was Kasper Jensen (21) of Denmark, who was followed across the finishing line by fellow Dane Michelle Gatting (19).
Qualifying
Van der Linde, the reigning South African VW Cup champion, had impressed with second place behind Larini in qualifying on a wet circuit on Saturday and briefly led the race on the opening lap until being slowed by the loss of his car’s power steering.
“It was a great experience,” he smiled afterwards. “I quickly settled into the Scirocco after Friday’s practice and qualifying.
“It’s a great race car and not that different to the Ferodo VW Golf I drove in the South African production car championship, although it’s a lot more sophisticated.
Power steering problem
He added: “I thought I had a good chance of winning the race, which was run on a dry track, but the loss of power steering made the car very difficult to drive and I had to work very hard to finish third among the regular Scirocco R-Cup drivers.”
Van der Linde concluded on positive note, saying: “I’m looking forward to the rest of the nine-race series and am confident we can pull off a win before long.”
The next round of the Volkswagen Scirocco-R Cup, which features two races, takes place at the Red Bull Spielberg circuit in Austria on 1 and 2 June.
SAinfo reporter
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