Van der Linde texts Verstappen: 'If the opportunity is there, I am in'

Kelvin van der Linde is one of the best touring car and GT drivers in the world. This coming weekend, the South African will also make his debut in Formula E. If that is not enough, one of the stars in the German DTM also turns out to be a very good sim racer. Like Max Verstappen, he belongs to Team Redline.

"I did it a lot in lockdown when there was nothing else to do," the South African said in conversation with GPblog. "It was cool. We had all the top guys, like Max and Lando. It was a cool time. I really enjoyed it. Now everything has opened up again, you can be in a real race car and you’re travelling a lot. There’s not a lot of time to practice on sim racing stuff. When I play sim racing now, it’s really just for fun."

No time

In 2020, it was Verstappen and Van der Linde who often called the shots at the virtual races. Despite his talent for virtual racing, Van der Linde was not active at the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans recently. "I was in South Africa at the time. I didn’t have a simulator rig in South Africa. As drivers, we only get one or two months off when we can spend time with family. I wanted to use that time to be in South Africa."

Van der Linde is still open to competing in a virtual race. "If there is an opportunity and he gives me another text for another event and I have time, then happily be part of it."

An extensive interview with Kelvin van der Linde will appear on GPblog at the end of this week.