Alexandra Vateva secures fourth top-20 finish of the season at the Nürburgring after personal best qualifying effort

Alexandra Vateva continued her steady progress in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany with another encouraging weekend at the Nürburgring, securing a fourth top-20 finish of her rookie campaign and recording her strongest qualifying performance of the season.

Photo credits: Ferdi Kräling Motorsport-Bild

Alexandra Vateva continued her steady progress in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany with another encouraging weekend at the Nürburgring, securing a fourth top-20 finish of her rookie campaign and recording her strongest qualifying performance of the season.

The Bulgarian driver arrived at the penultimate round of the 2026 season having spent the year adapting to one of the most competitive one-make championships in motorsport. After making one-off Carrera Cup Germany appearances in 2025, Vateva returned for a full-season campaign this year with Target Competition, while also remaining associated with the Iron Dames programme.

Her rookie season has been primarily focused on learning and closing the gap to the experienced front-runners. After scoring her first championship points at the Red Bull Ring with a 15th-place finish in Race 1, followed by another top-20 result in Race 2, Vateva endured more difficult weekends at Spa-Francorchamps and Zandvoort before returning close to the top 20 at the Lausitzring. She then broke back into the top 20 at the Norisring, an especially demanding street circuit, providing further evidence of her gradual progress.

Returning to the Nürburgring for Round 7, Vateva showed promising pace from the outset. She had already been close to the top 20 during the pre-event test on the 3.629-kilometre Nürburgring layout used for the weekend, and that performance was confirmed in official practice, where she set a 1:28.423 to finish 18th overall, just 0.87 seconds away from the fastest time.

Qualifying then produced an even more significant breakthrough. Vateva delivered her strongest qualifying performance of the season in the opening session, setting a 1:28.786 to secure 16th position on the grid for Race 1. It represented a major step forward in pure qualifying pace and put her among the midfield contenders.

The second qualifying session proved more difficult. Vateva once again recorded a 1:28.796, but with the field separated by extremely small margins, an almost identical lap time was only enough for 26th place on the grid for Race 2.

Starting Race 1 from 16th, Vateva made a clean getaway through the always-tricky opening corners and immediately positioned herself in the midfield battles. She completed the opening lap in 17th before settling into 18th, remaining close to Marczak after the latter ran wide onto the grass.

Vateva soon returned to 17th and became involved in a close fight with Montego Maassen, running side-by-side through Turn 1. Further ahead, Theo Oeverhaus was hit and spun, allowing Vateva to gain another position during a hectic opening phase.

The action continued when Rey King went off into the gravel on lap four, bringing out the Safety Car. Vateva had already produced a strong opening and remained 17th when the field was neutralized.

After the clean-up period, racing resumed at the end of lap nine. Vateva immediately found herself under pressure from Dylan Yip, but defended the inside line successfully on the first restart. Yip attempted the same move again one lap later, this time switching back through Turn 2 to complete the pass.

Vateva dropped to 18th but resisted further pressure from Dziwok, who attempted to take advantage of the battle. Once she had created some breathing room, she returned to her own rhythm, setting a personal best of 1:29.338 and beginning to close the gap to Yip ahead.

Oeverhaus, meanwhile, recovered strongly after his earlier incident and began charging back through the field. Together with Langeveld, he eventually managed to pass Vateva by lap 17, dropping her to 20th. Rather than losing touch, however, Vateva responded with another strong finish to the race. She continued circulating in the 1:29s, remained close to Langeveld and maintained a comfortable margin over Grief behind her.

She ultimately crossed the finish line in 20th place, securing another top-20 result and her fourth of the season.

Photo credits: Porsche AG

Race 2 presented a much more difficult starting position, with Vateva lining up 25th. The opening laps were chaotic, with multiple contacts and cars running off track, while debris was scattered across the circuit. Vateva was forced to take evasive action at Turn 1 on the second lap, dropping to 29th, but crucially avoided damage. The incident brought out the Safety Car and gave her another opportunity to regroup.

When racing resumed on lap six, Vateva immediately began making progress. She pulled away from King and started closing on Griesemann, initially setting a 1:30.0 before breaking into the 1:29s on the following lap. Her progress continued as she reduced the gap to Griesemann and completed the pass on lap 11 to move into 28th. Soon afterwards, she caught Nick Ho and began running in his slipstream.

When Ho was forced to pit with an issue on lap 16, Vateva gained another position and moved up to 27th. She was also continuing to improve her pace, setting a new personal best of 1:29.659 while maintaining a comfortable advantage over the cars behind.

Mutschlechner's retirement at the final chicane promoted Vateva to 26th, while her charge towards Shahin continued. She had reduced the gap to approximately two seconds heading into the final lap and closed another second before reaching the chequered flag.

Vateva finished 26th on the road before being promoted to 25th, completing another determined recovery drive after starting deep in the field.

The Nürburgring weekend therefore delivered a combination of significant qualifying progress, another top-20 race result and a strong recovery in Race 2, reinforcing the progress Vateva has made throughout her first full Carrera Cup Germany campaign. She currently sits ninth in the Rookie standings, with just one round remaining.

Vateva will conclude her rookie Porsche Carrera Cup Germany season at Hockenheim on October 9-11, where she will look to end her first full campaign on another positive note.