Audi Sport TT Cup – Nurburgring nasty to van der Linde

What promised to be a brilliant weekend at the Nurburgring quickly unravelled into a disaster for South Africa’s Audi Sport TT Cup star Sheldon van der Linde. The 17-year old had slotted into a double pole position, but a dramatic two races would see him heading home almost empty handed.

“That was a really disappointing race weekend,” Sheldon rued. “I was in pole position for both races, but the races were a disaster.

“I had a great start to lead the first race and I was able to keep Dennis Marschall in check for most of the race, but the going got pretty tough in the end and I was hit several times from behind by other cars, which damaged my car and left me open to attack as I battled to keep the chasing pack behind.

“It did not help that I was out of push-to-passes to defend and I ended up dropping back to 8th in that chaotic last. “At least I scored a few points, because the second heat was a disaster and I was eliminated from the race.” Sheldon became a fiery victim of a chain reaction accident triggered by title rival Marschall losing control of his car.

The dramas saw van der Linde plummet to fourth in the TT Cup title chase, 34 points adrift of double winner on the day and new title leader Joonas Lappalainen, who made best of a torrid weekend on track. Two races remain in the 2016 Audi TT Cup, with the next round of the DTM support series in Hungaroring, Budapest 23-24 September.