Nürburgring fatal crash
- Finnish driver Juha Miettinen, 66, died in a crash during a Nürburgring Nordschleife endurance race. (x.com) - The incident happened while other high-profile drivers, including Max Verstappen, were competing on the track. (x.com) - Motorsport outlets reported the fatal accident Saturday as organizers and series officials responded. (x.com)
Juha Miettinen, a 66-year-old Finnish driver, died Saturday after a seven-car crash during the first ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers race on the Nordschleife. (24h-rennen.de) Race control said the crash happened in the early stages of the April 18 race and stopped the event immediately for rescue and recovery work. Miettinen was driving the No. 121 BMW 325i and died at the circuit medical center after being extracted from the car. (24h-rennen.de) The other six drivers involved were taken to the medical center and nearby hospitals for precautionary checks, and organizers said none had life-threatening injuries. Officials then cancelled the rest of Saturday’s race. (24h-rennen.de) The crash came during the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers, a two-race weekend used as a key tune-up for the 24-hour race scheduled for May 14-17, 2026. Organizers said the April 17-19 qualifiers drew a 132-car field, including 37 GT3 entries in the top SP9 class. (24h-rennen.de) That entry list also included Max Verstappen, who returned to the Nordschleife in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 as part of his preparation for this year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours. Motorsport.com reported before the weekend that Verstappen was set to share the car with Lucas Auer in the April 18-19 event. (24h-rennen.de; motorsport.com) The Nordschleife, the long loop of the Nürburgring in western Germany, is one of endurance racing’s best-known circuits and is used by mixed classes of cars with large speed differences. The qualifiers weekend is designed to give teams race-distance practice there before the main 24-hour event a month later. (24h-rennen.de) Miettinen was not a one-off entrant. Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie records from October 2025 listed him among the season’s BMW 325i Challenge runners-up with Dan Berghult and Oliver Frisse. (nuerburgring-langstrecken-serie.de) Organizers said a minute of silence for Miettinen would be held during Sunday’s grid formation at 13:00, as the weekend continued under mourning at the Nürburgring. (24h-rennen.de)
