Kelvin van der Linde to replace Robin Frijns at ABT Cupra in Diriyah

Kelvin van der Linde will stand in for Robin Frijns at Diriyah due to the injury sustained by Frijns in Mexico.

ABT CUPRA’s Robin Frijns crashed at turn 9 on the opening lap of the first Formula E race of the season in Mexico. In that crash, Frijns broke his wrist and he also suffered fractures to his left hand which meant he had to have surgery. Due to this, Robin won’t be able to compete in Diriyah next weekend (Round 2 and 3) so ABT have brought in Kelvin van der Linde as his replacement. Kelvin is a 26-year-old South African racing driver and he’s won the ADAC GT Masters twice (2014 and 2019). Linde is also used to ABT as he’s driven for their DTM team for the past two seasons which included him finishing third in the championship in 2021 and picking up 4 race wins in the process.

ABT CUPRA’s team principal Thomas Biermaier said this about the situation; “Kelvin has been part of the ABT family for years in a variety of roles. He has been involved since the beginning of our comeback project and was intended as Reserve Driver right from the start – so it was immediately clear to us that he would take over from Robin”. “The task and challenge for Kelvin to start in a World Championship without any testing is of course gigantic, but he is highly motivated, works hard and the whole team will support him without any pressure.

Kelvin van der Linde also spoke about the situation saying; “To compete in Formula E is a dream of mine – but of course I wanted the circumstances of my debut to be different. I’m very sorry for Robin and I hope he’ll be fit again quickly. I am happy about the trust and the challenge. Now I have a few long days ahead of me and then I will do my best to stand in for Robin as well as possible”.

I’m certainly very intrigued to see how Kelvin gets on and I obviously send my best wishes to Robin. I hope to see him back on track soon.