Juha Miettinen died after a seven-car incident brought the latest Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie race to a halt on Saturday, with the four-hour event red-flagged about 25 minutes in. A press conference called at 8pm local time, three hours after the stoppage, confirmed that emergency services reached the scene immediately but could not save the driver.
Officials said Miettinen died in the medical centre after resuscitation attempts failed. The other six drivers involved were taken to the medical centre and nearby hospitals for precautionary examinations, and none of the injured were in a life-threatening condition.
The race did not resume on Saturday evening, turning what began as a red flag around an hour later into a full suspension. A minute’s silence will be held during grid formation for Sunday’s race at 13:00, as teams and drivers prepare to return for NLS5, the last major Nurburgring race before the Nurburgring 24 Hours on May 16-17.
The death is the first driver fatality in a race on the Nordschleife since German Wolf Silvester died in June 2013, a reminder of how rarely NLS races are stopped for anything other than weather or safety concerns. This weekend’s event was drawing wide attention because of Max Verstappen’s participation, but the focus shifted quickly from the headline name to the consequences of a crash that left one driver dead and six others under examination.
That contrast is what now hangs over Sunday’s running: the series is scheduled to continue, but the mood will be set by loss rather than competition.