Van der Linde Crashes in Hour 19

Image: N24

An accident by Kelvin van der Linde has essentially eliminated Audi’s chances of victory in this year’s Nürburgring 24 with less than six hours to go.

The No. 1 Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS sustained significant left-side damage after the South African lost control of the car at Hohe Acht and slammed into the left-side wall.

Van der Linde was running third overall at the time, and still on the lead lap, although was one of the few cars to have been on cut slick tires at the time. 

The defending race winner made a valiant attempt to get the car back to the pits, where it has since gone straight to the garage for repairs.

The incident has elevated the No. 007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 of Nicki Thiim to third, with Gabriele Piania set to inherit fourth in the No. 6 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Up front, the No. 912 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Pilet leads, due to the pit stop sequence in its battle with the No. 4 Black Falcon Mercedes.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John