BMW factory driver Kelvin van der Linde’s 2025 season–his first with BMW after a successful career with Audi–was a dream. Kelvin won won the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup and overall drivers’ championship along with Charles Weerts, as well as the drivers’ championship in the Intercontinental GT Challenge series, after winning the Indy 8 Hour finale with Weerts and Valentino Rossi. He also drove in the FIA WEC with Valentino Rossi and Team WRT. I caught up with van der Linde before the Indy race.
BimmerLife: How did all this start with your racing? What influences did you have?
Kelvin van der Linde: My dad and my grandfather were both race drivers. My dad drove for BMW Motorsport at the time in touring cars, so I naturally grew up at race tracks watching my dad race.
BL: Where did your dad race for BMW?
KVDL: My dad raced mainly in South Africa where I grew up. At the time, the touring cars were an international platform, similar to what GT3 cars are today. The touring cars were quite popular at the time and had a lot of factory support. (Kelvin’s dad Shaun van der Linde competed in touring cars for BMW Motorsport South Africa in the mid-late 1990’s)
BL: When you were coming up as a kid through karting, were you already thinking then that you wanted to be a race car driver, or were you just doing it for the fun of it?
KVDL: It started out as a bit of fun, with my dad running the kart and my mother taking care of all the things around it to make it a nice family weekend. Obviously it’s a very expensive sport, and once we realized we were spending many weekends away from home it was hard to see it as just purely fun. You need to switch your mindset to doing it with a goal in mind.
BL: You’re three years older than Sheldon (Kelvin is BMW factory driver Sheldon van der Linde’s older brother). Were you guys competitive at all or did your age difference keep you from competing against each other?
KVDL: We were always very competitive, but not on the race track. I would say it was more on the PlayStation and other things that brothers do away from the track. We’re both active tennis players, so we were super competitive in that aspect. Tennis was one of the few sports where we could compete directly against each other and we’ve had a lot of fun.
Van der Linde and Charles Weerts won the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint and overall championships.
BL: Was your goal as a driver to ultimately race in Formula 1?
KVDL: I watched the grand prix races on Sundays, but with my dad racing touring cars I watched all those big races and I really enjoyed the touring car style of racing. My dream was always to race in DTM when I was growing up. That was my Formula 1.
BL: Your entry into sedan racing really started with VW, is that right?
KVDL: There was a very popular one-make series in Germany called the Scirocco Cup, which was a support series for DTM that I raced in. One thing led to another and there was the link to Audi that was part of the VW Group, which led to me getting into their ladder system. I was an Audi factory driver for eight years.
Shooting down the hill at Bathurst.
BL: How did the transition from Audi to BMW happen?
KVDL: I had the link with WRT when they raced Audi, and BMW always kind of followed me because my dad had been a factory driver and then my brother went there as well. My family kind of had this BMW Motorsport passion and I was the odd one out driving for Audi. It was always in the back of my mind to move to BMW and when Audi pulled back on their racing programs, I had a serious think about other opportunities. The door opened up at BMW at the end of last year, and I knew it was the right one for me.
BL: What was it like adapting to the front-engined BMW M4 GT3 after being used to driving the mid-engined Audi R8 LMS for several years?
KVDL: I felt a bit unsure in the beginning, because it’s a big adaptation driving style wise, but I was lucky enough that it gelled really well with by driving style. I had not even driven the M4 GT3 before my first race at Daytona (Kelvin drove in the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Paul Miller Racing, finishing fourth with Connor De Phillippi, Neil Verhagen and Madison Snow). In my first practice at Daytona, one of the mechanics had to show me how to start it and pull away, because that was literally my first time in the car and the systems were all very different from the Audi.
On the way to an overall win in the Indy 8 Hour.
BL: How would you describe your driving style?
KVDL: In racing scenarios, I think I’m probably one of the more aggressive drivers in one-on-one battles, but in terms of just driving the car alone I would say I’m very smooth and tend to underdrive the car a little bit, which you need to do in the BMW. If you start overdriving the M4 GT3, it kind of bites you back.
BL: You’ve won a lot of races this year with BMW. Which ones really stand out to you?
KVDL: For me that most special race was the Bathurst 12 Hour. It was my first BMW win and my first time winning an endurance race with my brother. There’s also a lot of support from South Africa with fans following the race and it was one I really wanted to win. The Nürburgring 24 Hour win also stood out to me. It was my third win but my first time with BMW.
Kelvin (left) won the Bathurst 12 Hour with brother Sheldon (right) and Augusto Farfus.
BL: You’ve won a lot of big races, but are there any still on your list that you want to win in your career?
KVDL: There’s always more to win and more to experience in motorsport. The Spa 24 hour and the Daytona 24 hour are both big races that I haven’t won yet, so those both stand out for me in GT racing. My main goal is to be a DTM champion. I don’t want to let go of that dream just yet.
BL: Do you have any interest in doing a full season of racing here in the US?
KVDL: To be honest, I’m quite happy where I am at the moment, with doing a little bit of everything. I race around the whole world and am happy doing that, and don’t want to restrict myself to one specific region.
Through the Karrussel on the way to a Nürburgring 24 Hour win.
BL: What’s your favorite track to drive on?
KVDL: The Nürburgring Nordschleife.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy Gruppe C Photography and BMW]