BMW Switch Was the “Elephant in the Room” for Van der Linde

Photo: BMW

Kelvin van der Linde described BMW as the “elephant in the room,” noting it was the “easiest transition” to join the German brand due to the connection to his brother Sheldon.

The South African was confirmed last month as the newest member of BMW’s factory driver roster, and will make his debut with the brand as part of Paul Miller Racing’s GTD Pro effort in this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Van der Linde joins BMW after a year with Lexus in the FIA World Endurance Championship, while also having been under contract with ABT after he departed the Audi factory roster two years ago.

Speaking with Sportscar365, van der Linde outlined two key factors that swung his decision towards BMW: existing connections through both his brother as well as manager Dennis Rostek, (who also manages fellow BMW factory ace Rene Rast as well as Sheldon) and Lamborghini’s call to depart WEC after a single season.

“BMW was kind of always the elephant in the room, more or less,” said van der Linde. “My brother obviously raced there for so many years, so I had a lot of connection to them.

“Also my management obviously has that connection already so there was always let’s say half a door open there if things were to go that direction.

“Plainly put, [last year] Lamborghini obviously announced that the WEC program had stopped with the LMDh [car], which was for me one of the main focuses. So for me it was a clear indication that that was probably not the right thing to do.

“Then basically midway through December we tried to work again on a private deal with ABT and the race program just wasn’t big enough, to be quite honest.

“I think BMW was the right new destination for me. I think to come back to a manufacturer full-time, not be private anymore, is probably in terms of long-term perspective, a good move for me.

“Like I said, I know a lot of the guys from my brother, so it was the easiest transition, I would say. Once we got talking about programs and so on, it looked pretty positive and interesting for me.”

By moving to BMW, and subsequently joining Team WRT’s LMGT3 effort in WEC, van der Linde exits Lexus at the end of the first year of what he revealed was supposed to be a multi-year commitment to the Japanese manufacturer.

“From both sides, it didn’t really materialize in the way that we hoped for,” he said.

“I expected maybe a different kind of situation before arriving there, probably expected to be a little bit more successful in that time and I just felt that it was really weighing on my motivation.

“I didn’t know if I was willing to to go through that again. Obviously there was no signal of change in the short term and once the BMW offer came up, it was for me quite clear that we needed to pursue that.

“I probably underestimated just the mental challenge of actually filling up the numbers in a field.

“It’s something that I’ve never really had to do or never really was accustomed to and I probably underestimated how difficult that is.

“So respect to the guys that are still working hard, like a great bunch of people but I just wasn’t up to do it again for another year.”

Van der Linde “Would Love to” Test BMW LMDh Car

When BMW announced van der Linde’s signing in December, it outlined that he had done so in a GT3 capacity.

In that view, the 28-year-old downplayed the odds of stepping up to its LMDh roster, although he expressed a hope of a test outing at the wheel of the M Hybrid V8.

“Every year of course I have certain hopes of driving,” he said. “But we’re so deep into this LMDh era now that there’s certain specialists that are starting to kind of identify themselves.

“So I think, in general, it becomes more difficult every year for a rookie to come into that thing especially with a manufacturer that has the option of signing experienced guys, right?

“I mean, I would love to. There’s definitely no doors closed in terms of maybe testing the car at some point, but obviously nothing confirmed either.

“So it’s purely hope from my side at this moment.

“But at the same time, I feel established in the GT3 scene, feel comfortable there, feel like I can go and win some more races. I have a couple more races on my bucket list.”