False start to the new motorsport year for Kelvin van der Linde: The South African couldn’t believe his eyes when he arrived at Le Castellet and found himself all alone
False start to the 2024 season for Kelvin van der Linde: The South African DTM driver from the Abt team, who is also driving the Lexus in the WEC endurance world championship this season with the Akkodis-ASP racing team, traveled to Le Castellet for testing on Tuesday full of anticipation, but his team was not there
“I thought this would be my first test of the year, I got up at 5:30am, drove to the airport and landed in Marseille,” “I was looking forward to finally getting going again and sitting in a race car.”
But the 27-year-old from Johannesburg’s wish was not to come true: “Then I get to the track and don’t see any trucks. It turns out that the test isn’t until next week. Nice, isn’t it?” van der Linde laughs at the mistake.
“I’m really speechless,” says the GT3 pro, who has been racing around the globe for many years, about the faux pas. “It’s never happened to me in my life that I fly across Europe and arrive a week early.”
On the morning of January 23, Van der Linde posted a photo on his Instagram story showing the sunrise from the plane window with the following text: “First test 2024, let’s get the season started.”
Instead of doing his laps in the car, he now had the opportunity to explore Marseille, France’s second largest city – and asked his followers for tips on what to do on a day off in the southern French metropolis.
Kelvin van der Linde, who is also on site as Abt’s stand-in at the Formula E race in Saudi Arabia, will have to wait a little longer before his first outing in a racing car in the new year. But on January 30th, 40 kilometers away from Marseille at the Circuit Paul Ricard, the time should actually come.
