Nurburg [Germany], October 21 (ANI): Indian racecar driver Akshay Gupta took first place in the 7th round of the prestigious Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie, winning the VT2-F category and finishing 46th overall out of 121 cars. Gupta, along with German co-driver Alex Schneider, claimed their first victory of the season.
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, as per the press release by Team Mertens Motorsport.
Gupta and Schneider mastered the wet conditions of an already challenging Nurburgring circuit, 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, as quoted by Team Mertens Motorsport.
Gupta also said, “It has been a long time 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 16, Gupta is aiming to clinch the Vice Champion title for 2024.
Akshay Gupta is a pioneering Indian racing driver and tech entrepreneur who has triumphed over significant obstacles to achieve success in both fields. Born with clubfoot, Akshay has surmounted physical challenges to excel in motorsports. His racing career, which began in 2010, includes impressive milestones such as finishing as runner-up at the 2013 National Championship season finale at the Buddha International Circuit for Toyota, and being selected by Nissan for their Asian GT Academy Finale in the UK, where he outperformed 10,000 Indian drivers.
Returning to his racing roots, Akshay now competes in the Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS), serving as an inspiration to a new generation of Indian drivers. His determination, resilience, and passion for racing have made him a standout figure in Indian motorsports.
The Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) is a prestigious series organized by a consortium of motorsport clubs, each hosting one event of an eight-race series on the Nurburgring Nordschleife. The series features a diverse range of participants, from amateur drivers in small road-legal cars with roll cages and harnesses to professional factory teams racing Group GT3 cars. Formerly known as the VLN (Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nurburgring), the series was founded in 1977 and has since become a cornerstone of endurance racing, with each event held as a one-day competition on Saturdays. (ANI)
