GT driver's emotional story after Miettinen's death leaves the media stunned

During last Saturday’s NLS race, BMW driver Juha Miettinen (66) tragically passed away. A day later, a GT car from the same German brand won a race in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). In just two days, BMW experienced a terrible low and a remarkable high.

After the WEC race, GPblog asked the winning driver Anthony McIntosh about his feelings, prompting an answer that left the entire press room gasping.

The American (51) revealed that a few years earlier he had been on the brink of death after contracting a variant of Lyme disease. His brain had been so affected by the bacteria that he thought the end was near. “I had to say goodbye to my kids,” McIntosh told the media room sitting in silence.

Miraculously, the American survived the illness, then made it through the COVID period, after which McIntosh decided to start racing. He did so without any karting experience or a racing license. Within a few years, he reached the pinnacle of endurance racing in the WEC. “Racing is something that I'm so passionate about. We walk that line... It’s something you truly love.”

That brings McIntosh to Miettinen’s fatal accident; another person who loved racing so much and likewise stepped into a race car later in life.

"If I was in that circumstance, yes, I would be very sad for everyone around me. But for me, I'm passionate enough that if I were to pass away racing, I know in my heart that I would be doing something that I truly love and am passionate about,” he says, suggesting that Miettinen may have felt the same way.

“That is a tragedy and we should work to overcome those. To do what we can, but it is a part of the sport. I think that that's something that you have to keep in mind as a driver, that it can happen at any time,” McIntosh concludes, after which a brief silence is followed by loud applause from the media present in the room.