Van der Linde: Fuel Save Key to WRT BMW 1-2 Finish

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

Kelvin van der Linde said he felt like Sunday’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour was all about “saving fuel and hitting numbers” in what turned into an “absolute crazy” amount of emotions for the South African, who claimed his first victory with BMW while driving alongside his brother for the first time in seven years.

Van der Linde led home a 1-2 finish for BMW Team WRT in the Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener, following a strategic run for both of the Vincent Vosse-led BMW M4 GT3s which, along with the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, stretched their fuel to take on one less stop than the competition.

The tactics from the Belgian squad, however, came after a dominant run for the No. 32 car of Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde and Augusto Farfus, which led more than three-quarters of Australia’s international enduro.

It marked all three drivers’ first Bathurst 12H wins and the first for BMW in the event’s GT3 era.

“I’ve been coming here for so many years and always had a shot to go for this race win and always had my heart broken at the last minute,” said Kelvin.

“You’re [normally] driving balls to the wall for 12 hours, making the moves happen.

“Today was a completely different race. It was a race of saving fuel and [hitting] numbers, basically.

“The last stint was pretty tricky having a number in my ear. Otherwise we wouldn’t have made it to the finish.”

When asked how much fuel he thinks he had left after the checkered flag, Kelvin said: “I had a fuel surge on the way to the podium ceremony so it was very close.”

Kelvin and Sheldon became only the second pair of brothers to have won overall at Mount Panorama, joining David and Geoff Brabham, who won the 1997 Bathurst 1000 Super Touring race, also in a BMW.

“This race particularly just had an absolute crazy amount of emotions,” he said. “It’s my first race back with WRT, my second one with BMW, first one back with Sheldon and first one with Augusto.

“It’s absolutely special and I’m sure my mom and dad are really, really proud.”

Younger brother Sheldon said he was impressed with how quickly Kelvin came to grips with the M4 GT3, in only his second race with the car after last month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“I have to say I’m very impressed with his start at BMW in only his second race out and he’s already on pace. It’s really, really impressive to see,” he said.

“You saw that in the last stint. He had to save fuel and keep Chaz [Mostert] behind him, which wasn’t really our race in the end so we decided to let him go.

“It was really, really impressive to see both guys making no mistakes, the team, the execution was key to the win today. I think that really was key to success.

“I think the pace wasn’t really there to win the race outright compared to other cars but I’m very, very happy.”

Both BMWs, along with the 75 Express-run Mercedes-AMG, were banking on the long green flag stretch to the checkered flag, as a late-race full-course caution would have gone in favor of the No. 26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 GT3 of Chaz Mostert, who finished fourth.

“The last 40 minutes of the race was difficult for ourselves because a safety car would have ruined our race,” added Farfus.

“Kelvin and Sheldon did a really good job. I think we showed during the race that we executed well as a team.”

SunEnergy1 Racing’s Jules Gounon added: “This year, it was really a fuel race. It was quite difficult because you don’t want to lose pace to the front but at the same time you have to meet your fuel numbers.

“It was a difficult race. I don’t think we really had the pace to hit the front. So we’re super happy to be P3.”