Sheldon van der Linde | |
---|---|
Nationality | South African |
Born | Johannesburg, South Africa | 13 May 1999
Related to | Etienne van der Linde (uncle) Kelvin van der Linde (brother) |
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters career | |
Debut season | 2019 |
Current team | Schubert Motorsport |
Racing licence | FIA Platinum |
Car number | 31 |
Former teams | BMW Team RBM, ROWE Racing |
Starts | 92 |
Wins | 6 |
Poles | 5 |
Fastest laps | 6 |
Best finish | 1st in 2022 |
Previous series | |
2017 2016 2015 2014 | IMSA SportsCar Championship ADAC GT Masters TCR Benelux Audi Sport TT Cup Volkswagen Cup South Africa South Africa Polo Cup Championship |
Championship titles | |
2022 2015 2014 | Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Volkswagen Cup South Africa South Africa Polo Cup Championship |
Sheldon van der Linde (born 13 May 1999) is a South African motor racing driver. He has been competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since 2019, winning his maiden title in 2022.
Van der Linde began his motorsport career at the age of six, racing karts in his native South Africa. He would go on to win multiple national titles before making the transition to racing cars in 2014. In his first season of car racing, van der Linde won the South Africa Polo Cup Championship in dominant fashion. He would go on to win the Volkswagen Cup South Africa the following year. [1]
For 2016, van der Linde raced in the Audi Sport TT Cup, one of the support categories of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. He would make an immediate impact, winning both races of the opening round at the Hockenheimring. Scoring multiple podiums, as well as two wins, secured van der Linde fourth in his debut season. Thereafter, he has competed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, ADAC GT Masters, and both Blancpain GT Series'.
In January 2019, it was announced that van der Linde would be driving for BMW Team RBM in the 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season; thereby making him the first South African driver to compete in the series. [2] He scored a pole position at Zolder and finished 13th in the standings, 19 points behind teammate Joel Eriksson.
van der Linde remained with RBM for the 2020 season, this time alongside Philipp Eng. His season started out strongly, scoring his first DTM podium at the second round of the campaign at the Lausitzring. The South African followed that up by winning race 2 at Assen, a race in which he scored the fastest lap as well. A consistent season helped van der Linde to sixth in the championship, finishing as the second-highest BMW driver, narrowly missing out to Timo Glock.
For 2021, the first DTM season to be run under Group GT3 regulations, van der Linde switched over to partner Glock at ROWE Racing as the team fielded a pair of BMW M6 GT3 cars in what proved to be their only season in the series. In the first seven races, he recorded five finishes in the top 10. After a fourth-place finish in the second race of the first round at Monza, he started from pole position and led 21 laps in the first race of the second round at the Lausitzring, but eventually received a five-second time penalty for a pit-stop infringement and finished in ninth place. [3] [4] After experiencing his first retirement of the season in the second race of the fourth round at the Nürburgring, he also retired from both races of the next round at the Red Bull Ring. He finished sixth in the first race of the sixth round at Assen, before experiencing four consecutive retirements. His campaign ended with an eleventh-place finish in the drivers' standings, with the fourth-place finish at Monza remaining his best race result. [5]
For the 2022 season, van der Linde was chosen to partner Philipp Eng at Schubert Motorsport as the team entered the DTM for the first time by fielding a pair of BMW M4 GT3 cars. [6] In the second round of the season at the Lausitzring, he won both races. [7] He scored his third victory of the season in the first race of the fifth round at the Nürburgring, finishing ahead of his brother, Kelvin. It was the first time that two brothers finished 1-2 in a DTM race. [8] Going into the final round at the Hockenheimring, van der Linde was 11 points ahead of Mercedes driver Lucas Auer in the drivers' standings. In the Saturday race, which Auer won, van der Linde finished second after starting from 16th due to a 10-place grid penalty. He went into the Sunday race two points ahead of Auer in the drivers' standings, eventually winning his maiden title with a third-place finish, which put him 11 points ahead of Auer, who finished the race in seventh, in the final drivers' standings. [9]
van der Linde served as the reserve driver for the BMW i Andretti Motorsport during the 2020–21 Formula E season. [10]
In April 2023, van der Linde made his debut in a Formula E car during the Berlin rookie test with Jaguar TCS Racing. [11] He would later partake in the rookie test with the team in Rome. [12] van der Linde returned with Jaguar and participated in the rookie free practice session in Misano and the Berlin rookie test. [13] [14] [15]
* Season still in progress.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Team | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos. | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Montaplast by Land-Motorsport | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Audi 5.2 L V10 | DAY | SEB | LBH | COA | DET | WGL | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | LGA | PET 1 | 52nd | 36 |
2018 | Montaplast by Land-Motorsport | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Audi 5.2 L V10 | DAY 7 | SEB 4 | MOH | DET | WGL 12 | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | LGA | PET 6 | 22nd | 96 | |
2022 | BMW M Team RLL | GTD Pro | BMW M4 GT3 | BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Twin Turbo I6 | DAY 9 | SEB | LBH | LGA | WGL | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | PET | 34th | 238 | ||
2023 | BMW M Team RLL | GTP | BMW M Hybrid V8 | BMW P66/3 4.0 L Turbo V8 | DAY 9 | SEB 2 | LBH | LGA | WGL | MOS | ELK | IMS | PET 7 | 13th | 851 | |||
2024 | Paul Miller Racing | GTD Pro | BMW M4 GT3 | BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Twin-Turbo I6 | DAY 3 | SEB | LGA | DET | WGL | MOS | ELK | VIR | IMS | PET | 3rd* | 319* |
* Season still in progress.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
* Season still in progress.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Rank | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | BMW M Team WRT | Hypercar | BMW M Hybrid V8 | BMW P66/3 4.0 L Turbo V8 | QAT 10 | IMO 6 | SPA 13 | LMS NC | SÃO 14 | COA 13 | FUJ Ret | BHR | 23rd* | 10* |
* Season still in progress.
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | BMW M Team WRT | Robin Frijns René Rast | BMW M Hybrid V8 | Hypercar | 96 | NC | NC |
The Lausitzring is a race track located near Klettwitz in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the borders of Poland and the Czech Republic. It was originally named Lausitzring as it is located in the region of Lusatia, known as Lausitz in German, but was renamed EuroSpeedway Lausitz for better international communication from 2000 to 2010. The EuroSpeedway has been in use for motor racing since 2000. Among other series, DTM takes place there annually. It also used to host the Superbike World Championship.
Mirko Bortolotti is an Italian racing driver from Trento. He has won the Italian Formula 3 Championship in 2008, the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2011, the Eurocup Megane Trophy in 2013 and the Blancpain GT Series Endurance and Overall Championship in 2017. He competed as a factory driver for Lamborghini between 2016 and 2019, before moving to Audi for 2020 and rejoining Lamborghini in 2021. He competed in the 2022 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters with GRT Grasser Racing Team, a factory-backed Lamborghini team based in Austria, and has since been competing with Iron Lynx in the WEC, piloting their Lamborghini SC63 prototype starting in 2024.
Mücke Motorsport is an auto racing team based in Germany.
Marco Wittmann is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver.
Lucas Auer is an Austrian racing driver. He is the nephew of former Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger. He currently drives for HTP Winward Motorsport in DTM. He was a member of the Red Bull Junior Team.
Patric Niederhauser is a professional racing driver from Switzerland and a current Porsche factory driver.
The 2014 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the twenty-eighth season of premier German touring car championship and also fifteenth season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000. The season started on 4 May at Hockenheim, and ended on 19 October at the same venue, after a total of ten rounds.
Kelvin van der Linde is a South African and German sports car racing driver currently competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Abt Sportsline. 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.
Luca Engstler is a German racing driver currently competing in the DTM. Like his father Franz Engstler he made his name in the touring car scene, winning the TCR Asia Series in 2018 and 2019 and taking the 2021 TCR title in Germany.
The 2019 DTM was the thirty-third season of premier German touring car championship, first season under "Class 1" regulations era and also twentieth season under the moniker of DTM since the series' resumption in 2000. Mercedes-AMG withdrew from the championship after the 2018 season to focus on their Formula E entry. British sports car manufacturer Aston Martin replaced Mercedes-Benz, which marked the first non-German entry in 23 years when Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo last entered the series under the International Touring Car Series name in 1996. Defending champion Gary Paffett did not return to defend his title, as he moved to Formula E.
David Schumacher is a German racing driver currently competing in the 2023 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters with Mercedes-AMG Team Winward. A member of the Schumacher racing family, he is the son of former Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher, nephew of seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, and the cousin to racing driver Mick Schumacher.
Alessio Deledda is an Italian racing driver. He currently competes in the International GT Open, having previously raced in FIA Formula 2 and the DTM.
The 2020 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the thirty-fourth season of premier German touring car championship and also twenty-first season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000 as well as second and final season of "Class 1" regulations era.
The 2021 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the thirty-fifth season of the premier German motor racing championship and also the twenty-second season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000.
Thomas Preining is an Austrian racing driver, currently competing in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, where he is the 2023 champion. He also won the 2018 German Porsche Carrera Cup championship.
Philip Ellis is a Swiss-British-German racing driver. He is currently competing for HTP Motorsport in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, having previously competed in the DTM for the same team.
Charles Weerts is a Belgian racing driver who currently competes in the GT World Challenge Europe. On December 8 2022 Weerts was announced as a factory driver for BMW M Motorsport where he'll continue to drive for Team WRT.
The 2022 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the thirty-sixth season of the premier German motor racing championship and also the twenty-third season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000. It was the second season of the DTM to be run under Group GT3 regulations.
Ricardo Feller is a Swiss racing driver who currently competes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and GT World Challenge Europe.
The 2023 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the thirty-seventh season of the premier German motor racing championship and also the twenty-fourth season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000. It was the third season of the DTM to be run under Group GT3 regulations, and the first season with ADAC as the promoter after ITR ceased operations at the end of the previous year.