A statement from race control bulletin confirmed his death: “During the first race of the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers (18 April 2026), a serious accident involving seven competitors occurred in the early stages of the race.
“Following the collision involving several vehicles, race control immediately halted the race to allow for extensive recovery and rescue operations.
“Despite the immediate arrival of emergency services, the paramedics were unable to save the driver involved, Juha Miettinen (BMW 325i, #121); the driver died in the Medical Centre after all attempts at resuscitation proved unsuccessful.
“The other six drivers involved were taken to the Medical Centre and nearby hospitals for precautionary examinations. None of the injured are in a life-threatening condition.
“The race will not resume on Saturday evening. The thoughts of everyone involved in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring are with the bereaved family of Juha Miettinen.
“A minute’s silence will be held in memory of the late motorsport competitor during the grid formation for Sunday’s race at 13:00.”
The 66-year-old amateur driver was from Finland and was a regular in the 24hr Nurburgring race. He often shared photographs of racing endeavours on his Instagram profile, with his most recent upload coming after a race earlier this month.
Posing next to fellow driver Dan Berghult, the post read: “NLS Race 3 done yesterday in nice weather. This time no major mechanical issues and we could finish the race with a rather pleasing end result, P1 in our class with fierce competition. P83 in total out of 139 cars, which probably is our all-time best. Thanks to keevin_motorsport for the perfect race day support and hospitality! Next two races in a week.”
Berghult and Miettinen had shared a joint Instagram post of their car on Friday, with the caption reading: “Ready for the N24H Qually races. Two races in two days. The first one into the night. The second one way too early in the morning, just so you get a taste of that Nürburgring 24H race feeling…”
A red flag brought the race to a stop, but it was initially unclear as to what had actually happened. Ambulances had been spotted rushing to the scene, with all cars told to enter the pit lane, and news came thereafter that seven cars were involved in the pile-up.
The race was suspended indefinitely, with a statement, almost an hour after the red flag, reading: “Rescue operations for several injured riders are currently in full swing. We will provide an update from Race Control as soon as further information becomes available.”
Earlier in the day, Max Verstappen‘s team had been slapped with a three-grid penalty after team-mate Lucas Auer was adjudged to have caused a collision with a Porsche driver. They had originally finished sixth in qualifying, but were bumped all the way down to ninth.