Kelvin van der Linde will replace Nico Müller in Berlin

It's a puzzle which will make the starting grid for the two rounds of the Berlin E-Prix on May 11 and 12 very different! The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps of the world championshipEndurance taking place on the same Saturday, many drivers must make a choice regarding the championship they will favor.

A choice very often dictated by the manufacturers to which they are linked, and by the discipline which obtains priority in these cases. The Envision team will, for example, have to do without its two holders, retained at Toyota (Sébastien Buemi) and BMW (Robin Frijns) in the Hypercar category.

A new driver change has been confirmed, since Nico Müller will not be present at ABT Cupra. The German driver will in fact be at the wheel of the Peugeot 9X8 at Spa-Francorchamps, and Kelvin van der Linde was chosen to replace him.

“Nico is in great form at the moment, so of course it hurts a bit to be without him for two races. However, we do not want to put obstacles in the way of his commitment in WEC and so we gave him the green light”, explained Thomas Biermaier, CEO and Team Principal of the ABT team.

An already experienced replacement

The South African van der Linde will not be too disoriented during this weekend in Berlin, given that he already occupied the position of luxury substitute last season. Robin Frijns had indeed broken his hand during the inaugural event of Season 9 in Mexico, and van der Linde had taken his place during the following three events, already at ABT Cupra.

“With Kelvin, we are fortunate to have a driver who knows the Formula E, our team and the current generation of car, and who has already participated in three races for us. » The 27-year-old pilot has already prepared well for this new opportunity: “I'm really looking forward to my return to Formula E. I've already spent many hours in the simulator with the team and I've been to Formula E races, but of course it's something completely different from driving myself. »