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Hockenheimring, Germany - In the season finale of the Audi Sport TT Cup held at the Hockenheimring (October 16-17), South Africa's Sheldon van der Linde celebrated his eighth podium finish in the first race of the weekend, and placed fourth in race 2.
After four pole positions, four fastest laps and four race wins in his debut season, Sheldon ended fourth in the overall Championship and second in the rookies’ classification.
Great talent
Van der Linde said: "Following my great start of the season with two victories, I’d been hoping for a little more with respect to how it would end. In 2017, I’d like to achieve the goals I didn’t reach this year.”
“The first race was a very tough one, but I was happy about improving from ninth on the grid to P3. I stood my ground in a pack of six cars and fought numerous duels. My race pace was so good that I was able to start overtaking manoeuvres at the right time.
READ: SA's Sheldon van der Linde heads to Audi Sport TT Cup finale
"In race two, I improved from P7 to fourth place - but that was the maximum,” concluded van der Linde.
17-year-old Van der Linde was credited as one of the greatest talents of the year by Audi Sport TT Cup project leader Philipp Mondelaers.
Flying the SA flag high
The second South African representative at Hockenheim this weekend was Jesse Adams, motoring writer for The Star Motoring. Adams finished race 1 in second position in the 'guest classification'.
Race 2 proved to be tougher for Adams, who missed out on a third place podium due to a minor incident with another guest driver during the race.
For Van der Linde's full race, watch the video below: