Daniel Muth is the 2023-24 NGK-NTK Esports Cup Champion.
The German driver took the series title by winning at iRacing’s virtual Nürburgring on April 5, 2024.
Muth had to make a last-lap pass on Nikolas Nolde, then hold off a draft-fueled surge up the Döttinger Höhe by Vince Peeters to take the checkered flag and the championship.
“It was a crazy race,” said Muth during RaceSpot TV’s post-race coverage. “I didn’t expect to win, honestly. I felt like the other guys (in the lead pack) were a little bit faster, but the thing with the Toyota GR86s is the draft is so strong that even if you’re a little bit slower, you can still fight.”
Muth won the season finale by 0.039 seconds after drafting his way to the lead halfway down the final straightaway. Peeters, the early-season title favourite, responded to Muth’s pass with an attempt of his own. The two Toyota GR86s ran side-by-side heading into Teirgarten with Muth to the right side of the track and Peeters to the left. After Peeters tried to squeeze Muth, the latter driver lunged his car hard into the final corners. Muth barely kept his car on the pavement. With Muth overcooking the final corner complex, his GR86 doored Peeters up the circuit, forcing him to lift out of the battle.
Nolde responded to the contact in front by going for his own shot at glory. Despite having the most momentum out of the front-running cars, Muth held onto the lead to take the NGK & NTK Esports Cup title.
“It was insane,” said Nolde. “Somehow, I got close enough. Somehow, I got P2.”
The season championship came down to four main contenders: Muth, Peeters, Nolde, and regular season title winner Alexander Thiebe. Those four drivers ran away from the rest of the field by more than 30 seconds by the checkered flag. Thiebe in particular elected to lead the main group for most of the race as the rest of the pack tried to save fuel behind him.
That decision would end up costing Thiebe.
Thiebe lost two seconds during the only pit stop cycle of the race, making him lose the draft to Muth, Nolde and Peeters with a couple laps to go.
The most dominant driver of the season ended up finishing fourth in the finale.
“The thing with the Nürburgring and some other tracks is that if you’re the leader, you’ll end up losing in the end,” said Thiebe. “Everyone else behind you can save a lot of fuel. Way more. I had to refuel more than everyone else and that cost me the draft. When you’re out of the draft and you have a pack of two-three drivers pushing each other away … I had no chance to win. But, it is how it is.”
With Thiebe cycled out of the podium positions, Peeters planned his moves. After taking over the lead coming out of the pit lane, Peeters maintained the pace of the pack, helping them pull away from Thiebe by four seconds in two laps. However, Peeters’s car body language gave away what his goal was for the final sector of the season: to not be the leader heading down the Döttinger Höhe.
Lewis McGlade, lead commentator for the finale, asked Peeters directly if he did move out of the way on purpose.
“No, of course not,” said Peeters in a high-pitched tone while smiling through his teeth.
The entire broadcast studio, including its camera operators and both announcers, could then be heard laughing along with Peeters to his response.
“I just tried to do something different,” said Peeters after recomposing himself. “I practiced the straight with my teammates earlier in the week and it was just always about being lucky in the end. I was unlucky on the last lap.”
In the end, Muth becomes the first driver to win the series championship in its iRacing era. Muth will receive a Bavarian Simtech Wheel and 500 € for winning the title.
