Young South African driver, Kevin Van Der Linde, has helped Audi secure a podium at the Red Bull Ring to give the Prosperia C. Abt Audi R8 its first ever podium at the Austrian circuit. Van Der Linde (17) and team mate René Rast (27) finished 10th and 2nd in the two one-hour races that made up the 4th round of the GT Masters series.
The result for the team adds to their tally of podiums, which at this stage of the championship sees them with six podium finishes in eight championship races. The team’s earlier successes in the season resulted in a win for Van Der Linde and Rast in the second race in Ochersleben, Germany, to make Van Der Linde the youngest ever GT Masters winner.
The Prosperia C. Abt Audi’s podium finish at the Red Bull Ring saw the team make up 12 places after qualifying 14th for the second race. This performance was in spite of the fact that the Audi is not suited to the high-speed circuit that favours the large capacity American Corvettes and Camaros. Both races were won by the 5,2-litre V8 Callaway Chevrolet Corvette of British driver Oliver Gavin (41) and German Daniel Keilwitz (24). Van Der Linde, the reigning European Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup champion and South African Motor Sportsman of the year, praised his team for results that saw the team maximise their cars potential under difficult circumstances.
Audi’s 4th round results see them take the championship lead at the season’s halfway point with future circuits better suited to the smaller-capacity Audi. The team leads the championship with 120 points closely followed by 110 points for the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Holland’s Jaap van Lagen (37) who has had three different co-drivers during the season.
The next round of the championship takes place at the Slovakia Ring in Slovakia on the 9th and 10th of August.
