Sheldon van der Linde
Sheldon van der Linde (born 13 May 1999) is a South African motor racing driver, who currently drives for Team Schubert in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and BMW Motorsport works driver.
| Sheldon van der Linde | |
|---|---|
_FP2.jpg.webp) van der Linde in DTM 2019 | |
| Nationality |  South African |
| Born | 13 May 1999 Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Related to | Etienne van der Linde (uncle) Kelvin van der Linde (brother) |
| Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters career | |
| Debut season | 2019 |
| Current team | ROWE Racing |
| Car number | 31 |
| Former teams | BMW Team RBM |
| Starts | 52 |
| Wins | 1 |
| Poles | 2 |
| Fastest laps | 2 |
| Best finish | 6th in 2020 |
| Previous series | |
| 2017 2016 2015 2014 | WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ADAC GT Masters TCR Benelux Audi Sport TT Cup Volkswagen Cup South Africa South Africa Polo Cup Championship |
| Championship titles | |
| 2015 2014 | Volkswagen Cup South Africa South Africa Polo Cup Championship |
Career
van der Linde begun 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'.
2019
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.
2020
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 aswell. 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.
2021
For 2021 van der Linde switched over to partner Glock at ROWE Racing. His campaign would prove to be disappointing, as he experienced seven retirements, four of which came consecutively in the second half of the season, and the South African finished the season in eleventh, having scored a best race finish of fourth place.
2022
In 2022, Schubert Motorsport signed van der Linde to their team.[3]
Racing record
Career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | South Africa Polo Cup Championship | Ferodo Junior Racing Team | 14 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 345 | 1st |
| 2015 | Volkswagen Cup South Africa | Signature Motorsport | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1st |
| 2016 | Audi Sport TT Cup | Audi Sport | 14 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 231 | 4th |
| 2017 | TCR BeNeLux Touring Car Championship | Comtoyou Racing | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 105 | 16th |
| TCR BeNeLux Touring Car Championship - Junior | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 55 | 8th | ||
| ADAC GT Masters | Aust Motorsport | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 27th | |
| ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship | AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC | 14 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 315 | 3rd | |
| IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD | Montaplast by Land-Motorsport | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 52nd | |
| 2018 | ADAC GT Masters | Montaplast by Land-Motorsport | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 136 | 2nd |
| IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 96 | 22nd | ||
| Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 10th | ||
| Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.5 | 21st | ||
| Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup - Silver Cup | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 22.5 | 10th | ||
| 2019 | Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters | BMW Team RBM | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 13th |
| Intercontinental GT Challenge | BMW Team Schnitzer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 22nd | |
| 2020 | Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters | BMW Team RBM | 18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 108 | 6th |
| ADAC GT Masters | Schubert Motorsport | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 39th | |
| Intercontinental GT Challenge | Walkenhorst Motorsport | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 10th | |
| 2020–21 | Formula E | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | Reserve driver | ||||||
| 2021 | Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters | Rowe Racing | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 55 | 11th |
| GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup | Walkenhorst Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC* | |
| 2022 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD Pro | BMW M Team RLL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 238 | 9th* |
| Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters | Schubert Motorsport | ||||||||
* Season still in progress.
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
(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 | 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 | Audi 5.2 L V10 | DAY 7 |
SEB 4 |
MDO | 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 |
9th* | 238* |
* Season still in progress.
Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 Turbo DTM | HOC 1 6 |
HOC 2 14 |
ZOL 1 11 |
ZOL 2 5 |
MIS 1 9 |
MIS 2 9 |
NOR 1 Ret |
NOR 2 Ret |
ASS 1 10 |
ASS 2 15 |
BRH 1 8 |
BRH 2 7 |
LAU 1 16 |
LAU 2 11 |
NÜR 1 7 |
NÜR 2 16 |
HOC 1 16 |
HOC 2 13 |
13th | 42 |
| 2020 | BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 Turbo DTM | SPA 1 15 |
SPA 2 6 |
LAU 1 2 |
LAU 2 15 |
LAU 1 9 |
LAU 2 10 |
ASS 1 7 |
ASS 2 1 |
NÜR 1 8 |
NÜR 2 6 |
NÜR 1 8 |
NÜR 2 4 |
ZOL 1 6 |
ZOL 2 10 |
ZOL 1 13 |
ZOL 2 7 |
HOC 1 10 |
HOC 2 9 |
6th | 108 |
| 2021 | ROWE Racing | BMW M6 GT3 | MNZ 1 11 |
MNZ 2 4 |
LAU 1 9 |
LAU 2 5 |
ZOL 1 16 |
ZOL 2 7 |
NÜR 1 6 |
NÜR 2 Ret |
RBR 1 Ret |
RBR 2 Ret |
ASS 1 6 |
ASS 2 Ret |
HOC 1 Ret |
HOC 2 Ret |
NOR 1 Ret |
NOR 2 16 |
11th | 55 | ||
| 2022 | Schubert Motorsport | BMW M4 GT3 | ALG 1 |
ALG 2 |
LAU 1 |
LAU 2 |
IMO 1 |
IMO 2 |
NOR 1 |
NOR 2 |
NÜR 1 |
NÜR 2 |
SPA 1 |
SPA 2 |
RBR 1 |
RBR 2 |
HOC 1 |
HOC 2 |
References
- "Sheldon van der Linde - BIOGRAPHY". Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- "BMW completes 2019 DTM roster with Sheldon van der Linde". 17 January 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- Haidinger, Sven (17 February 2022). "Walkenhorst und Schubert BMW-Teams für DTM 2022: Wer die vier Fahrer sind". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
External links
- Sheldon van der Linde career summary at DriverDB.com