Nurburgring Nordschleife, Germany
Round 5 of Sunday League Season 7 saw the drivers return to the infamous green hell for the second ever visit in the series' history, and continuing ETE's lasting success at this venue, first established by Cas Van Velzen's victory here under red flags last season, Fake Galaxy would secure their fourth win of the season in Round 5, now totalling seven career victories.
Galaxy led into Round 5 by only half a point to 5Star's Tylor Vermaak, and with his return to the field following an absence to Round 4, it appeared time had not dulled the blade of the Austrian. As Free practice came to a close, a concerning dilemma rose on the grid, in that there was only 1 complete validated lap, namely from that of the #315 of Alan Alexander; this, coupled with a mere 20 minutes of available Qualifying time, meant that the entire grid would have theoretically 2-2.5 laps of the Nordschleife of qualifying, which in the largest dedicated motor racing course in the world, all 170 corners and 15.7 miles of tarmac had to be taken perfectly to get the most out of qualifying.
The session started with the appearance of a brand new talent to the grid, the #779 Audi of Miguel Ameijenda - previously unknown to the series, Ameijenda made his debut for Round 5 with a strong opening lap time, one that would see him retain pole for the first half of the session, Declan Anderson, Tylor Vermaak and Patrick Leger of 5Star couldn't match the alarming pace of the newcomer, it would take ETE's star talents Carlos Diesch and Fake Galaxy to shift Ameijenda off the top step. Toward the end of the session, Zsolt Beefgartner would climb to a 4th place start behind Diesch, Galaxy and Ameijenda, Carlos Diesch secured pole for Round 5 away from Fake Galaxy by 0.307s, in AM, ISR Motorsports' Adrian Mittemeyer secured division pole from an outright 10th, Mittemeyer had told TRTN at the end of Round 4 that he was excited to be racing at home, and delivered another strong performance in Qualifying, behind him in AM was Gabriel Rivera and Reuben Lewis on the division podium.
QUALIFYING SUMMARY (TOP 5)
- Carlos DIESCH (SUI) - Ferrari - 8:12.405
- Fake GALAXY (AUT) - Ferrari - 8:12.712
- Miguel AMEIJENDA (IRL) - Audi - 8:13.145
- Zsolt BEEFGARTNER (HUN) - Lexus - 8:13.623
- Tylor VERMAAK (RSA) - Bentley - 8:14.107
As 26 drivers braced for the race start, little could warn them of the dangers that lay ahead, but trouble had struck some far earlier than the race start, as both Tylor Vermaak and Zsolt Beefgartner suffered a disconnect on the grid, forcing them to start from the back of the grid, the ensuing power vaccuum at the back of the top 5 invited in Alan Alexander and Declan Anderson to contest the Top 5, as the lights went green and as the race got underway, Diesch immediately moved to a defensive stance in the GP Circuit to hold off any possible advance from Galaxy, behind, Anderson and Alexander went on the offensive for the podium, swarming Miguel Ameijenda, ultimately dropping the newcomer to 5th before they had even cleared the GP Circuit, with 4th secured, Alexander shifted his focus to Anderson, beginning the fight thereafter for 3rd.
Samuel Linton-Bell suffered the earliest of incidents after a spin at the Michael Schumacher S, shortly therafter was complications for Cody Zarfl. As the grid entered the Nordschleife for the first time in the race, that casualty list would continue to grow, at Schwedenkreuz, Parth Dwivedi and Nur Fahrer collided on the run to Aremberg, putting both cars in the gravel with major (but not critical) damage. Further ahead, Declan Anderson began the charge toward Galaxy in 2nd.
In AM, Mittemeyer lost the lead in the opening lap to Rivera, and with Tylor Vermaak's swift procession back to the top 10, Mittemeyer was in a vice between multiple 5Star cars as he fought to regain the lead, once they reached the Dottinger, it became far easier for the Ford of Mittemeyer to find space over Kyle Jenkins, taking 8th and ushering in the fight for division lead, in front, disaster had struck Declan Anderson in his aforementioned fight for 2nd as his #28 McLaren veered violently off course at Tiergarten, in the same area, Kyle Jenkins would also come off course, collecting major damages, further back, another 5Star car ran into trouble, Patrick Leger, who won a week prior to Round 5 in Barcelona, came off at Antoniusbuche and suffered a currently unknown amount of damages, one thing was for certain: they were too much to bear, and Leger was out of the race in the blink of an eye.
All of this occured within the first lap of racing. With 90 minutes of racing to contest, the driver's who had survived Lap 1 had countless more to face before the end.
Into Lap 2, Adrian Mittemeyer secured the AM lead away from Gabriel Rivera, and the fight for the PRO lead continued between Diesch and Galaxy, Miguel Ameijenda fought to retake 3rd from Alan Alexander, a move that was ushered in by the aforementioned crash for Anderson, fighting behind the AM leaders was Luca Tamborini and Richard Claffey, two key talents for Porsche, at Mutkurve, Tamborini went wide and rode the barriers, ultimately losing ground to a not-so-distant pack of cars including Cas Van Velzen and Zsolt Beefgartner.
Behind, troubles for Anderson only became worse, as during his run through Brunchen and Eiskurve, he would suffer a half spin, to then subsequently be hit by an oncoming Nick Lamming in a freak accident that ultimately saw yellow flags out and both drivers majorly damaged.
On the Dottinger Hohe, Beefgartner would enter the top 10 after overtaking Richard Claffey, once again demonstrating Lexus' superior straight line speeds, as proven by testing. (Vermaak, 2026), Beefgartner then took the fight to Van Velzen for 9th, the two veterans would clash for position throughout the GP Strecke, with Van Velzen diving on the car ahead - Gabriel Rivera, who was now a fair distance from Mittemeyer - just in efforts to put distance between himself and the rampaging Lexus. He too would fall short of position to Beefgartner on the Dottinger.
On Lap 3, the fight for the lead came to a head with Fake Galaxy overtaking Carlos Diesch at Mutkurve, a lead the Austrian talent would hold physically and later strategically for the rest of the race. Diesch would later fight with Miguel Ameijenda, running wide at the Kleines Karussell and ultimately forfeiting 2nd to the Audi, behind, trouble struck Richard Claffey as his Porsche suffered catastrophic engine failure in the high-speed Pflanzgarten II section, forcing him to park at the roadside, only a slither away from the track, this would only further devolve as a damaged Lynton-Bell would narrowly scrape past the stranded Porsche, riding the barriers and tapping the left hand side of Claffey at over 50mph.
At the halfway mark of the race, the drivers piled into the pit lane as per a one-stop strategy, and as the smoke cleared, it became increasingly obvious to Alan Alexander, who at the time reinforced an ETE 1-2-3-4-5, that Tylor Vermaak was closing in at a rate of knots and didnt appear to be slowing down any time soon. The #8 Bentley of Vermaak opted to stay out, taking the lead for the time being, with Adrian Mittemeyer also staying out, in the latter's case, his 2nd place spot was short lived as he would soon encounter Galaxy, Ameijenda and Diesch, who took the German talent from 2nd to 5th.
Tylor Vermaak would pit from the run of Lap 6 into 7, returning the lead to Galaxy, with Ameijenda 2nd and Diesch 3rd, Mittemeyer joined him in the pit lane. As the two emerged, Vermaak was within fighting range of Alan Alexander for 4th, and Mittemeyer emerged still in the lead of AM. On the same lap, Cas Van Velzen crashed at Tiergarten, ultimately retiring from the race.
Now down to only 16 cars, attention shifted to the Battle of the Bentleys, Alan Alexander vs Tylor Vermaak for 4th place - The two would hold impressive form throughout the second half, and it appeared obvious to us that their fighting was only going to continue to escalate, as neither driver would yield to the other, this runaway effect gave rise to the most controversial incident of Round 5, on the Dottinger Hohe on Lap 8, after fighting all the way through the GP Strecke and the Nordschleife, Vermaak got the pass on Alexander, but swiftly entering the slipstream, Alexander began to retake 4th, the two were nearly side by side up towards Antoniusbuche, and despite the door closing on him to pass on the right, Alexander persisted with the move, placing two wheels on the grass, shortly thereafter he would collide with the large diffuser assembly over the back of Vermaak's Bentley, this brief moment of contact set in motion a violent reaction as the car lost traction, sending it onto the grass, where in which at over 120mph would collide with the farside barriers at Tiergarten, this damage saw Vermaak out of the chances to fight for P4.
Prior to this, Zsolt Beefgartner suffered a disconnect, ultimately undoing a heroic charge to the top 10 for the Hungarian talent.
At the chequered flag, Fake Galaxy secured his fourth victory of Season 7, with Miguel Ameijenda in 2nd, and Carlos Diesch in 3rd, Kieran Rodd saw 4th and Alan Alexander rounded out the top 5. In AM, Adrien Mittemeyer secured a win at his home race in Germany, behind him for the podium in AM was Rivera and Jason Sargeant with BMW.
RACE SUMMARY (TOP 5):
PRO:
- Fake GALAXY (AUT) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Miguel AMEIJENDA (IRL) - Audi - Former Privateer - Now signed to 5Star
- Carlos DIESCH (SUI) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Kieran RODD (GBR) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Alan ALEXANDER (GBR) - Bentley - Euro Titans Endurance
AM:
- Adrian MITTEMEYER (GER) - Ford - ISR Motorsport
- Gabriel RIVERA (ESP) - Lamborghini - 5Star Esports
- Jason SARGEANT (GBR) - BMW - Privateer
- Pedro LOPO (POR) - McLaren - Invictus RT by Pipioqui
- Reuben LEWIS - Aston Martin - Invictus RT by Pipioqui
DRIVER'S VIEW:
We spoke with Adrian Mittemeyer on his success at his home race:
Mittemeyer: "I'm still shaking a bit, but it feels great, winning 3 races in a row is absolutely awesome"
When asked on his view of things into the second half of Season 7, Mittemeyer regarded "Donington could be a bit of a challenge for me as i've never (driven) it in the Mustang"
In the aftermath of Round 5, Miguel Ameijenda was signed to 5Star Esports, we asked 5Star's ACC Division for a statement on the matter, where in which they told us "Acquiring Ameijenda has been part of a recent rapid expansion and overhaul among many other things to come with getting 5Star Esports to be one of the top teams on console" this follows their acquisitions over the last few months of Declan Anderson, Patrick Leger, Julian Acquati and Gabriel Rivera among many others.
With the mid-season break after Round 5, Round 6 will take the grid to a fan-favourite location for the series' return, as they head to Donington Park, action for the NLRL Sunday League can be found Live EXCLUSIVELY on TRTN via Twitch, on-demand via YouTube, and all reports can be found for Season 7 here on the XCLusive Racing website.
References:
- Vermaak, T. - Private vehicle top speed testing session (2026) - data handed to TRTN Privately