South African teenager Kelvin van der Linde dominated the VW Scirocco Cup event at Norisring, Germany, thereby claiming his third win in a row.
The grandson in the Van der Linde racing dynasty won the 21-lap race around the demanding street circuit ahead of Michelle Gatting (19). Third was Germany’s Manuel Fahrnauer (19), 3,1 seconds behind the winner.
Another South African youngster, Jordan Pepper (16) from Johannesburg, finished sixth after starting 12th.
The 2012 Engen VW Cup champion started third on the grid and, after taking the lead on lap three from polesitter Nicolaj Møller Madsen of Denmark, steadily pulled away from the 22-strong field from nine countries in identical VW Scirocco R race machines.
With four of the championship’s nine rounds completed, Van der Linde has 140 points and a useful lead of 20 points over his nearest rival, Gatting.
“Going into the weekend, I didn’t expected to win at the Norisring,” said the grade 11 student from Dainfern College. “The race is the toughest of the season, as the gaps between each car are so small that anyone can come out on top.
“I made a good start, which allowed me to overtake Michelle on the first lap. When I then passed Nicolaj Møller Madsen shortly after that, I used the push-to-pass system to open up a gap. I also timed the restart after the safety-car phase perfectly. The overall standings obviously look very good now, but there are still five races to go.
“I would like to dedicate my win to Allan Simonsen, in whose memory we all bore a sticker on our cars. He was a fantastic racing driver and was in the thoughts of all the Scirocco R-Cup drivers today.” Danish sports car driver Simonsen died in an accident at the start of the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.
The next rounds are at the Nurburgring in Germany on 17 and 18 August.
