Insight: The Amazing Journey of Le Mans' Latest Racing Brothers

Sportscar365 explores the career paths of Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde as they make their joint debuts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans…

Racing brothers: it’s a tale almost as old as time. Michael and Ralf Schumacher are arguably the most famous example, but other the years we’ve seen Geoff and David Brabham secure separate victories with Peugeot, while Dries and Laurens Vanthoor are set to go toe-to-toe in the Hypercar class in this year’s edition of the French endurance classic.

However, the Belgian brothers are not the only sibling pairing that will see action at the Circuit de la Sarthe this year. While they may not be competing in the same class, the 92nd edition of the event will be notable for the simultaneous Le Mans debuts of Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde.

Kelvin, competing in the LMGT3 class, shares the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3 with Arnold Robin and Timur Boguslavskiy while the Sheldon is one of three drivers piloting the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car in Hypercar.

When the brothers stand on the grid at Le Mans this Saturday afternoon, it will serve as a major milestone in a journey that’s taken its fair share of twists and turns over the years.

Both born in Johannesburg, the van der Linde brothers were raised in a family that lived and breathed motorsports. Father Shaun was a successful domestic touring car racer, while uncle Etienne competed in junior single seaters in Europe.

Naturally, the two boys followed in their footsteps. Being the older of the brothers, Kelvin started the journey first. He raced Volkswagens in his home country before becoming the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup champion in 2013. A year later, he repeated the same feat in ADAC GT Masters, teaming with Rene Rast. In the process, he went into the history books as the youngest champion in series history.

Back in South Africa, Sheldon (two years Kelvin’s junior), was doing his best to follow his brother’s example. He too experienced early success in Volkswagen racing, winning the Volkswagen Cup South Africa. He too moved to Europe, competing in the Audi Sport TT Cup in 2016 and winning four races en route to fourth in the standings behind the likes of Dennis Marschall and Nicklas Nielsen.