Thomas Biermaier, Team Principal of the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team has hailed this weekend’s inaugural Cape Town E-Prix as a “dream come true” for their driver Kelvin van der Linde, who is replacing Robin Frijns once again this weekend at the fifth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
Van der Linde’s appearance at his home E-Prix will likely be his final weekend in the driving seat, with the expectation being that Frijns will return next month at round six in Brazil. The South African has performed well since stepping in for Frijns, with him having performed better than team-mate Nico Mueller in Diriyah, before suffering technical gremlins last time out in Hyderabad.
The recent round in India was actually Mueller’s best of the season, with the Swiss driver having come agonisingly close to scoring the team’s first points of the season, after finishing eleventh. Progress was definitely made by the backmarker side in India, with the hope being amongst the squad that they can make further “steps forward” this weekend.
Biermaier has shared how “huge” the anticipation is ahead of this weekend’s race, with it being the perfect place for ABT CUPRA to finally score their first points of the season.
“The anticipation for the debut of Formula E in Cape Town is huge, you can feel it throughout the paddock. It’s a bit of a dream come true for our local hero Kelvin, even if he would of course have wished the circumstances of his home race to be different. We recently made steps forward in India, and that’s exactly where we want to pick up: the goal in Cape Town must be to race for points again.”
