Elias Adestam beats Victor Nielsen to electric first NXT Gen Cup pole by 57 thousands
Elias Adestam wrote history at Falkenberg to become the first-ever NXT Gen Cup driver to claim pole position, beating Victor Nielsen by 57 thousands of a second in an eventful and closely matched qualifying session where the top 15 drivers were covered within one second.
Pole position means four points and the 100% electric NXT Gen Cup championship lead for the Swede.
"It's very good to be on pole of course and a great feeling to secure the first NXT Gen Cup pole position! But the big points are tomorrow. We need to keep digging for the races when the real work is done. We will keep pushing!" said Elias Adestam.
The 16-year-old Dane Victor Nielsen carried his strong pace from practice to finish second on the fastest circuit in Sweden, a mere 0.057 seconds behind.
"It was really close, I'm a little bit disappointed. I wanted pole position of course, but the front row is good. Let's see tomorrow and there is no doubt on that it's going to be a close race," said Victor Nielsen.
Linus Granfors (15) held the fastest time earlier in the session and ended third fastest as the chequered flag fell, 0.121 seconds from pole.
"It feels great in the top three, especially as this is my first time in the car. We still have some time to find and I'm feeling positive. The start will be really important, obviously, and I think we are in for two really exciting races," said Linus Granfors.
Former karting ace Enzo Hallman was left a disappointed fourth, suffering a brief technical glitch which made him miss vital time during the intense qualifying session.
"I think I had a good qualifying, sadly I had some issues which cost me around three laps. I think I put together some good laps and that this issue costed me pole position. I will push for the top three in the races tomorrow and hope for a podium," said Enzo Hallman.
American racer Ellis Spiezia, who was third fastest in testing, rounded off the top five - just two tenths from pole.
"It was a very crowded track and the red flag at the beginning was a bit unfortunate. We'd like to be a bit closer, but we'll just have to see what happens in the races tomorrow," said Ellis Spiezia.
Oscar Pedersen secured sixth on the grid behind the wheel of his 100% electric LRT NXT1 race car ahead of Alex Gustavsson, Theo Jernberg, Alexander Kristiansson and Jonathan Engström.
Siri Hökfelt was fastest of the female drivers in eleventh position, just 0.712 seconds from pole in her first-ever racing weekend.
"It was a pretty intense session with a red flag. But we managed to find some pace at the end that I'm happy about. I'm not really happy about the position, but I know there is more time to find," said Siri Hökfelt.
The session was red flagged once to recover Katie Turner’s car after an excursion into the gravel trap in the early part of the session.
Next up for the NXT Gen Cup field is Race 1, starting at 09:00 CEST on Sunday July 9th - broadcast LIVE on YouTube!
Results
Points
Schedule
Sunday July 9th
09:00 – Race 1 (15 min)
15:45 – Race 2 (15 min)
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 – Isak Arvidsson – Sweden
7 – Enzo Hallman – Sweden
8 – Elias Adestam – 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
26 – Oscar Pedersen – Sweden
27 – Alexzander Kristiansson – Sweden
47 – Jonathan Engström – Sweden
50 – Victor Nielsen – Denmark
51 – Louse 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
Key links
