Fighting Back for Fourth Victory

A fantastic recovery sees Josh and Mertens Motorsport take their fourth win of the season.

The fifth round of the Nürburgring Langstrecken Series got off to a difficult start as Josh's car suffered a loss of power due to low boost pressure during Friday testing. The Mertens Motorsport crew worked through the night and into the early hours of the morning to inspect the car and replace the turbo, but without any opportunity to test the car, would have to wait until qualifying to find out if the issue was resolved.

Qualifying on Saturday morning was delayed due to heavy fog, and when Dany finally got on track to drive the opening part of the session, he found that the car was still lacking significant power and straight line speed. Josh chose to take the gamble of changing to slick tyres for his qualifying laps, hoping the track would dry out in the closing stages. The first lap proved difficult, with the majority of the track still very wet, however when Josh came to the pits to refuel, the team discovered a torn hose and quickly got to work, replacing the part and sending him out with enough time for one more lap. The gamble paid off, with dry lines starting to appear around the circuit and the car now running at full power, Josh qualified 3rd in class.

By the time the field headed out for the formation lap, the track was fully dry and Dany took the wheel at the start, quickly moving up to second place before putting on a great show with an incredibly close fight for the lead, which lasted for the entire first stint. A fast pitstop from the Mertens Motorsport crew, enabled them to take the lead as Josh jumped in for a double stint. It was an incedent-packed race, with many slow zones and Code 60's, but Josh stayed out of trouble and gradually stretched out a two-minute lead over the second placed car.

With an hour to go on the clock, Josh handed the car over to Christian Dannesberger, who was making a guest appearance on his return to the NLS, having won the VT2-FWD class championship alongside Dany in 2023. Christian got up to speed quickly, producing fast and consistent lap times to bring the car across the line for the win.

It was an amazing recovery from a difficult start to the weekend and Josh commented after the race, "I want to say a huge thank you to everyone at Mertens Motorsport for working through the night to resolve the technical problems we had on Friday and for fixing the car so quickly when the issue persisted in qualifying. I’m delighted we could reward their efforts with a win! It was also a pleasure to share the car with Christian for the first time; he won the championship with Dany last year and showed that level of quality today in the final stint."

The next round of the Nürburgring Langtrecken Series will take place on the 3rd of August, with a six-hour race putting extra championship points up for grabs!

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