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Linde leads way to German finals

SA teen drivers Kelvin van der Linde and Jordan Pepper will go to the final round of the international VW Scirocco R-Cup in Hockenheim in Germany on October 19.

OSCHERSLEBEN, Germany - Teenage South African racing drivers Kelvin van der Linde and Jordan Pepper will go to the final round of the international VW Scirocco R-Cup in Hockenheim in Germany on October 19 in first and third places respectively after the two-race penultimate round in Oschersleben in Germany on Sunday (Sept 15).

CHALLENGING RACE

Linde (17), reigning SA Volkswagen Cup champion who has dominated the German-based series so far with four wins, had taken a useful lead into the Oschersleben round but despite increasing this by finishing second in Saturday’s opening race to Dane Kasper Jensen, his lead was reduced when he could only manage 15th in Race 2 on Sunday.

He had started seventh on the reverse grid and was hoping to do well enough to put the championship beyond doubt this weekend but a mid-race incident when he was sixth and on course to take the title resulted in his receiving a drive-through penalty after race officials deemed that he had pushed another competitor.

Pepper, also 17, followed up his first Scirocco win, at the Nurburgring in Germany in August, with fourth in Race 1 and fifth in Race 2 to maintain third in the championship and a slim chance of taking the title.

With one race remaining and a maximum of 60 points on offerLinde is leading the standings with 290 points to Jensen's 247 and Pepper’s 232. This means that Linde only needs to finish the 2013 season’s last race 12th to win the world’s only single-make championship powered by natural gas.
         
Linde said: "Absolutely everything went wrong in this race. I wanted to play it safe because of the Cup title. Then I came into contact with another car and got the drive-through penalty. All in all, I was too cautious and didn’t take enough risks. I’ll come back stronger in Hockenheim - I want to claim this title."
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