Endurance ace Kelvin van der Linde trades the KVDL World Tour for the KVDL European Tour with his return to DTM. With BMW’s momentum behind him, he aims to add more victories to both his own record and BMW’s strong legacy.

The South African joined the München-based marque in 2025 and it immediately proved to be a great relationship. He also joined younger brother Sheldon van der Linde, who has been part of the BMW family since 2019. He kickstarted the partnership with a win in Bathurst and expanded BMW’s 24H Nürburgring record to 21 victories by winning the Eifel classic with his teammates.

As GT REPORT catches up with Van der Linde, his second year at BMW is already under way. Time flies when you win – and have a lot fun doing so!

“It feels great,” Van der Linde tells GT REPORT, “I think you always want to be with a manufacturer that’s successful and after 2025, BMW was easily the most successful manufacturer in GT sport. That’s something we’re proud of, but it also comes with a big expectation for this year.”

In additon to the win in Bathurst and in 24H Nürburgring, Van der Linde also collected the Intercontinental GT Challenge title. At the same time, BMW won its first manufacturer’s title in IGTC. The bar is obviously higher than ever.

He’s sure the pressure will only add to his performance: “We thrive under it, and that’s what drives us all for this year.”

‘You need to grow from every moment’

Especially after the 2026 edition of the 12H of Bathurst, in which Van der Linde and Jules Gounon collided with just forty minutes left to go, both of their victory chances going down the drain. The clash opened the door for Maxime Martin, who won the race for Mercedes-AMG.

Was it easy to let go of that feeling and incident? “I think you have to be able to do that as a racing driver. With the big moments nowadays – they’re easily magnified on social media and you can see a replay from five angles everywhere,” he points out.

“As a driver, you always think of what you could have done differently. You do analyze post-race and say: I could have done that differently. The main point is: you always need to grow from every moment.”

“Coming from the high of winning the race to the low of fighting for the win, which was still great, but we didn’t bring it home. That was unfortunate, yet part of endurance racing. Sometimes you have races where everything goes perfectly and you’re smiling. Sometimes it feels like you’re a bit of a punching bag. We grow from that.”

Returning to DTM

Van der Linde’s 2025 season was intense – in a good way – as he combined WEC with his GT World Challenge and Intercontinental GT Challenge programmes, bagging outstanding results. Summarized, all of his races were part of the KVDL World Tour.

“I have to retire that helmet unfortunately,” Van der Linde chuckles, referring to the helmet that carried a design with hints to all iconic places he visited, including an honorary mention to his home country, South Africa.

“This year it will be more of a European tour for me, as I’m basically replacing my WEC programme with DTM. Much less traveling, which I’m also excited about, because I think the opportunity to be back in DTM is a new challenge.”

Van der Linde last drove in DTM in 2024, in which he became vicechampion with ABT Sportsline. He takes four years of DTM experience with him. “It gives me new motivation for this year too. WEC was a cool experience, but I’m happy to be back in a sprint environment. Let’s see how we go.”

“On the actual driving side, DTM is a different approach. In the sprint it’s one hour of absolute flat-out, don’t care about saving tires, saving material, you just want to get to the finish line! It’s a different mental approach, but there’s always something to learn.”

Adding another victory to BMW’s Nordschleife record

It’s obvious that the three-time N24 winner looks forward to everything that the 2026 season will bring. In the upcoming weeks he will prepare for the start of the GT World Challenge Europe and DTM season, both kicking off in April, and 24H Nürburgring in May.

Van der Linde, Raffaele Marciello, Jordan Pepper and Augusto Farfus will fight for the overall victory at the Nordschleife in a packed and competitive SP9 field. “I’m excited for it. I hope we have the opportunity to embrace it as long as we can, and hopefully the race won’t be weather-impacted,” he says.

“Just a bit of a Nordschleife flair, some wet patches, just to make it interesting. ROWE is becoming an iconic name on the Nordschleife. Augusto is one of the older guys in the team, but so respected. Lello [Marciello], who is absolutely super fast in whatever he gets, and Jordan, who has a similar role to mine last year.”

Van der Linde is sure they have a stellar line-up that can make it happen. “I look forward to the onboards, I look forward to all the crazy fights and the special moments – two wheels on the grass, whatever it takes! We live for that.”