– Kelvin van der Linde returned to his BMW M4 GT3 Evo on Wednesday, eleven days after the horror crash at the Norisring: His Schubert team completed the only allowed private test day of the season with both BMW cars to prepare for the home race at the DTM weekend in Oschersleben (all info on TV times, stream, etc.). But how did the 30-year-old, who suffered bruises in the crash, fare?
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“I am incredibly happy to be back in the race car,” Kelvin van der Linde told ran.de. “The car was rebuilt within a week, so many thanks again to the whole team. Really amazing what they have achieved in the last few days.”
“I am also fit, the pace is there, and I am looking forward to the race next week,” he made clear after returning to the race car that nothing stands in the way of participating in the upcoming DTM weekend in a week.
How many laps Kelvin van der Linde completed
At the test in Oschersleben, which took place at temperatures just under 30 degrees and sunshine, van der Linde was able to run through an extensive program. Alongside him were teammate Marco Wittmann and the two Dörr-McLaren drivers Ben Dörr and Timo Glock, who also used their only joker test day besides the official tests.
“We completed around 70 laps,” says van der Linde. “I felt good in the car. The car was also perfectly prepared – no problems with the car, straight into the groove.” This is especially a good sign physically, but says little about whether one will be competitive at the race weekend.
Because Oschersleben has never been a BMW track so far – and Kelvin van der Linde, who repeatedly had technical bad luck in the first half of the season and is only twelfth in the overall standings at mid-season, urgently needs to make up ground.
“I am very excited about next week – home race for Schubert. We hope for our spectators, fans, team members, and partners that we can be at the front,” he looks ahead. “After the test, we have a very good feeling with the car. Everything else we have to wait and see when the other cars are also on the track.”
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Hard test for Kelvin van der Linde in Misano
Next weekend, van der Linde, who is already in Italy, will also complete a full race weekend for the first time since the crash: He will start with his WRT team in the sprint series of the GT World Challenge Europe in Misano and share the BMW M4 GT3 Evo with his Belgian teammate Charles Weerts.
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Kelvin van der Linde had already received the all-clear from the doctors for the Sunday race at the Norisring – and had himself checked again in the hospital for safety reasons.
According to team boss Torsten Schubert, however, “the swelling kept increasing,” which is why they abandoned the original plan and the driver missed the race. Last week, van der Linde prepared for his comeback at the Athlete Performance Center in Thalgau, Austria, under the supervision of Red Bull specialists.
Is the second Grasser Lamborghini missing in Oschersleben?
While van der Linde is already back in the race car, Maximilian Paul must expect a longer convalescence after the crash. The 26-year-old from Dresden suffered a tibia and fibula fracture and a lumbar vertebra fracture in the accident and had to undergo surgery. He was allowed to leave the hospital in Nuremberg at the end of last week.
Whether the second Lamborghini Temerario GT3 of the Grasser team can be used in Oschersleben with a replacement driver in the cockpit was left open by team boss Gottfried Grasser recently. The car is repairable, but the availability of parts is “an issue,” he said last week.
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