Elias Adestam and Linus Granfors prevail in Gelleråsen thrillers
Elias Adestam and Linus Granfors shared the spoils with one victory apiece on an electrifying weekend of racing for NXT Gen Cup at Gelleråsen Arena, as Granfors snatched the championship lead.
Adestam emerged victorious in the first of Saturday’s pair of races at the Swedish circuit, winning the opening encounter from pole position – but only after overcoming the challenge of Jonathan Engström.
Having started fourth, Engström worked his way into contention and took the lead in the middle phase of the race. Adestam, however, had cleverly saved up his allocation of push-to-pass for the final lap, regaining the lead a few corners from home to score his third win of the season.
“It’s great to win here in Karlskoga, and I had a lot of fun along the way battling with Jonathan,” said Elias Adestam. “He was fast in the middle part of the race and got ahead, but I saved my push-to-pass and managed to get him back on the final lap.”
While the opening race provided plenty of entertainment, it still came in short when compared to the reverse-grid Race 2 – which featured intriguing battles and a sensational drag-to-the-line pass for the win.
Starring on this occasion were Linus Granfors and Enzo Hallman, who had shared the third row of the grid after finishing fourth and third respectively in Race 1. The pair worked in tandem to eventually settle in out front, disputing the win as the final laps closed in.
Hallman blinked first, using his push-to-pass activations to overtake Granfors twice on consecutive laps, handing him the lead on the final tour.
Hallman remained in front all the way through the very final corner - appearing set for his first-ever NXT Gen Cup victory – only for Granfors to time his last available push-to-pass to perfection and pull ahead across the line – winning by 0.018 seconds.
The move not only netted Granfors his third win from the last four races, having swept the previous weekend at the Nürburgring, but also took him to the top of the championship standings.
“It’s close in NXT Gen Cup! I’m really happy about this win, especially after a poor qualifying yesterday,” said Linus Granfors. “Today I had a lot more pace. The second race was a great fight between myself and Enzo there at the end. I saved up my last push-to-pass for the final lap and managed to pass him on the run to the line. It’s been a good weekend overall and I’m now leading the championship, so let’s press on.”
Hallman was understandably disappointed to lose out on a first win in such fashion, but a pair of podiums still marked the young Swede’s best weekend to date in the series.
"That was quite a race,” said Enzo Hallman. “I had a great start and was immediately up to third, and then Linus and I managed to drag each other along to the front. I took the lead from him on the penultimate lap, and then again on the last lap using push-to-pass, but he had one left and deployed it out of the final corner. He just got ahead at the line by the smallest of margins – of course it’s disappointing, but well done to him.
"Overall it was a very good weekend, with two podiums and strong pace throughout. It was my best weekend so far, so I'm really happy and I can't wait for the next event."
Behind Granfors and Hallman, Theo Jernberg scored his first podium of the season in P3.
“It’s my first podium in NXT Gen Cup, so I’m super happy about that,” said Jernberg. “I started the weekend OK, and then by Race 2 the pace was very strong. When I saw Linus and Enzo pass Isak (Arvidsson, who had started on pole), I took a little bit of a gamble into Turn 6 to try and follow them through, and it worked. Towards the end of the race I backed off a little bit to try and secure the podium, not risking too much, and I’m really pleased that it paid off.”
Race 1 winner Adestam, meanwhile, completed the weekend with a solid drive from eighth to fourth, but was subsequently handed a ten-second penalty for unfair driving and slipped to 14th.
Erstwhile championship leader Ellis Spiezia had a difficult weekend at Gelleråsen, dropping out of contention with a puncture in Race 1.
“A tough one for me,” said Spiezia. “Going in, I knew I had to make up some spots and in the battling I picked up a slow leak. It was really hard to drive and then four-five laps later I had a full puncture. I tried to get to the finish, but they ended up calling me in with the meatball (technical) flag.”
After duly stopping in the pits three laps from the end, Spiezia was forced to start Race 2 from down in 17th, putting in a strong recovery drive to seventh to limit some of the damage caused by Granfors’ victory.
The duo is now split by just three points at the top of the standings, with Granfors ahead on 171 to Spiezia’s 168. Adestam is third and Hallman is now up to fourth.
It sets up a thrilling conclusion to the season, with just two rounds remaining before the inaugural champion is crowned in the world’s first fully-electric junior touring car series.
The penultimate round of the NXT Gen Cup season takes place at Ring Knutstorp in southern Sweden on August 31 – September 1.
Results
Test 1
Test 2
Qualifying
Race 1
Race 2
Points
Drivers’ standings
2023 NXT Gen Cup entry list
Start no. – Name – Nationality
2 – Greaham Hofmans - Netherlands
3 – Linus Granfors – Sweden
4 – Theo Jernberg – Sweden
5 – Sebastian Kinnmark – Sweden
6 – Mikkel Njor – Denmark
7 – Enzo Hallman – Sweden
8 – Elias Adestam – Sweden
9 – Isak Arvidsson – Sweden
11 – Ellis Spiezia – USA
12 – Filip Bartoš – Czechia
14 – Katie Turner – United Kingdom
16 – Månz Thalin – Sweden
19 – Alexander Gustafsson – Sweden
21 – Siri Hökfelt – Sweden
27 – Alexzander Kristiansson – Sweden
47 – Jonathan Engström – Sweden
50 – Victor Nielsen – Denmark
51 – Louise Larsson – Sweden
Regulations – Quick overview
The driver with the most points at the end of the season will be crowned the official Swedish Junior Champion by the Swedish Motorsport Federation.
A total of six race weekends are held in Sweden and Germany.
Each race weekend consists of one practice session, one qualifying session and two races of approx. 15 minutes each with standing start.
The grid for the first race is determined by the result of qualifying.
The grid for the second race is determined by the result of Race 1 with the top eight drivers in reversed order.
Qualifying points are awarded to the top 3 drivers through the following scale: 4, 2, 1
Race points are awarded to the top 16 drivers through the following scale: 30, 25, 21, 17, 14, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
All drivers can utilise the push-to-pass functionality during the races which provides them with a burst of extra power. There is a delay of 5 seconds when activating it, so that driver’s can’t use it in a defensive capacity.
Key links