Indian racecar driver Akshay Gupta took first place in the 7th round of the prestigious Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, winning the VT2-F category and finishing 46th overall out of 121 cars. Behind the wheel of the #492 Hyundai i30N racecar for Mertens Motorsport, Gupta, along with German co-driver Alex Schneider, claimed their first victory of the season. (More Motorsport News)
This triumphant win marks a remarkable turnaround for the 31-year-old driver, who faced a string of setbacks in the first half of the season, including mechanical issues, crashes, and a rib fracture in the 5th round. Gupta's resilience paid off with a 2nd place finish in the 6th round, a 6-hour endurance race in August, and now topping it off with a victory.
Born with clubfoot, Gupta has overcome physical challenges to excel in motorsports. His racing career began in 2010 and he is also a tech entrepreneur.
Gupta mastered the wet conditions of an already challenging Nürburgring circuit, alongside Schneider, and qualified in 2nd place. At the opening lap of the 4-hour endurance race, Schneider took the lead of the race and maintained it for the first two-hours, tackling the challenge of a quickly drying circuit, before handing over the car to Gupta. The Indian also did a 2-hour double stint and consistently kept increasing the gap to 2nd place, bringing the car home with a comfortable lead of 1 min 41 seconds.
"We're overjoyed with this win," said Gupta. "It has been a longtime coming for us. Alex has been an incredible teammate to share the car with. We have been working on the car since Thursday morning to ensure everything was spot on with the setup. The wet conditions played to our advantage since we were the fastest, even beating cars in much faster category than us. Managing tire strategy and maintaining control on the partly wet and partly dry circuit was tricky, but it was so much more rewarding. We pushed hard and made it count in the end!"
With the eighth and final round of the championship scheduled for November 16th, Gupta is aiming to clinch the Vice Champion title for 2024.
The Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) is an organization of motorsport clubs, each hosting one event of an eight-race series held on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Participants in NLS races range from amateurs in small road-legal cars with roll cages and harnesses to professional factory teams racing Group GT3 cars.
The series was formerly known as VLN (Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring) and was founded in 1977 by several motorsport clubs. Each NLS race is held as a "one-day event" on Saturdays only.
