17-year-old Kelvin van der Linde did South Africa proud by winning the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup championship with a victory in the final race on Saturday.
Van der Linde beat title rival Kasper Jensen of Denmark at the season finale, which took place at the historic Hockenheimring.
The title went right down to the wire as three drivers started the race with a mathematical chance at the title. Van der Linde started down in fifth place, but kept pushing hard, after vowing not to be too conservative in his quest for the title.
“I did not want to get off to a jump start, so made a very cautious start to the race. I was actually happy with third place then, as I knew that would be enough to win the title. But then Dennis Trebing was given a drive-through penalty and I thought to myself: why not go for the win? I had a nice battle with Matthias Bäurle. He was very fair and did not get involved in the battle for the championship between Kasper and me.”
The South African beat his rival by exactly one second, while German Matthias Bäurle took the final podium spot. Fellow South African Jordan Pepper came home in ninth place, securing third place in the championship.
Next year, Van der Linde plans to compete in the Porsche Carrera Cup. Earlier this month, he took part in the Porsche Motorsport Junior Programme Scouting in Oschersleben, and was chosen as one of the top four candidates. The top driver will be announced this week, and will receive funding for 2014, as a Porsche junior.
“It has been a fantastic year for me. I am incredibly proud to be the champion of the Scirocco R-Cup.” the young exclaimed.