{"id":386731,"date":"2026-04-19T03:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/386731\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T03:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:35:10","slug":"one-driver-dead-six-injured-in-nurburgring-race-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/386731\/","title":{"rendered":"One driver dead, six injured in Nurburgring race crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

\nA code red is issued following a serious accident during the ADAC 24h Nurburgring race at the Nurburgring in Nurburg, Germany, on April 18, 2026.
\nPhoto: JACK BREKELMANS\n<\/p>\n

A racing car driver has died in an accident in Germany at an event involving Formula One star Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n

Juha Miettinen was killed and six others were injured, after an incident involving seven cars, during a qualifying race before the ADAC 24h Nurburgring .<\/p>\n

All the other drivers were taken to hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.<\/p>\n

Red Bull F1 driver Verstappen, sharing a Mercedes AMG GT3 sportscar with Austrian Lucas Auer, was not on track at the time.<\/p>\n

“During the first race of the ADAC 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers, a serious accident involving seven competitors occurred in the early stages of the race,” officials said.<\/p>\n

“Despite the immediate arrival of emergency services, the emergency medics were unable to save the driver involved, Juha Miettinen (BMW 325i, #121), after he had been extracted from the vehicle. The driver died at the medical centre, after all attempts at resuscitation proved unsuccessful.”<\/p>\n

Organisers said a minute’s silence would be held during the grid formation on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Verstappen said on Instagram that he was shocked by what had happened.<\/p>\n

“Motorsport is something we all love, but in times like this, it is a reminder of how dangerous it can be,” he posted.<\/p>\n

“Sending my heartfelt condolences to Juha’s family and loved ones.”<\/p>\n

– Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A code red is issued following a serious accident during the ADAC 24h Nurburgring race at the Nurburgring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-386731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}