Cape Town - Kelvin van der Linde is name that is synonymous with motorsport in South Africa and he is now looking to cement his name in an electric vehicle.
Van der Linde will be racing with Cupra the at Cape Town ePrix on Saturday having made his debut in the sport after Robin Frijns sustained a hand injury in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. The team, along with Dutch driver Frijns decided that he would sit out the race in the Mother City in order to recover.
This then tee’d up an almost perfect script, for the confirmation that Van der Linde would be racing at home.
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Although he is no stranger racing in SA, the race in Cape Town is bound to give him a range of emotions and Van der Linde says he just wants to appreciate the fact that he will racing in Mzanzi.
“I want to come into this week and absolutely enjoy it. We are up against a big challenge here, despite already having done two weekends in India and in Saudi, it still is a massive challenge, we still have some obstacles in our way. There hasn’t been a lot of time to get used to the car despite two races having passed by,” Van der Linde said.
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“It’s not the ideal circumstances to have a home race because I would obviously like to come in here a lot better prepared with a full season or a pre-season of preparation. But like I said I want to come in and I want to enjoy the week. I think there is a lot to show the South African fans.“
This track is going to be QUICK! ⚡
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) February 20, 2023
Your first look at the #CapeTownEPrix Street Circuit 🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/PpIPrIN30K
It will be a busy race weekend for the Van der Linde family as Kelvin’s brother Sheldon will be racing in the Kyalami 9 hour, where over 20 top international and local GT3 and GT4 teams will be battling it out for overall and class victories in the endurance race.
“We are a family of compromises and so we split it down the middle and my dad will be coming to Cape Town and mom will be in Johannesburg, so I think you can tell which child is the favourite for each parent, it’s pretty clear with that question (laughs). We avoided any arguments at the dinner table, I think that is a good compromise,” said Van der Linde.
He and his team will be leaving Germany on Tuesday and will arrive in Cape Town on Wednesday for the race.
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