Linus Granfors secures vital final pole of 2023 as Elias Adestam goes off
Championship leader Linus Granfors secured a crucial final NXT Gen Cup pole position of 2023 in the Mantorp Park season finale qualifying - as title rival Elias Adestam went off right at the end of the session, still securing third on the grid.
Linus Granfors lapped the Swedish circuit in 1:33.483, beating slipstreaming “team-mate” Enzo Hallman by 0.250 seconds. The duo secured four and two points respectively to the championship.
“It’s a really important pole. We knew that the slipstreaming is a lot of time and we needed that in order to be on pole. The goal is of course to win the races tomorrow and gain as much points as possible,” said Linus Granfors.
“I had good team-work with Linus, we had a plan that we followed and it worked with a 1-2. I'm really happy with the result,” said Enzo Hallman.
Elias Adestam, who is placed second overall, looked set to improve on his best lap time but made a mistake and went off into the gravel trap - bringing the red flags out with just a couple of minutes left.
The Swede still managed to secure third place on the grid, just 0.021 seconds from Enzo Hallman in second place.
“It was a bit of a disappointing qualifying today. I was looking good with the pace but then I made a mistake at Turn 5 and locked up my brakes. I was surprised by the car ahead braking a bit too early and it caught me off guard. It’s a big shame as I think pole was on today, but it is what it is,” said Elias Adestam.
Another two drivers also cooperating for slipstream down the long straight was the Danish duo of Victor Nielsen and Mikkel Njor, securing fourth and seventh place respectively.
“I’m really happy with fourth while it was a shame for Mikkel as we were slipstreaming together, but the red flag came out on his fastest lap. But I’m happy with my starting position and we’ll see how the races goes tomorrow,” said Victor Nielsen.
Theo Jernberg claimed a strong fifth place ahead of a disappointed Ellis Spiezia – placed third overall - who could only manage sixth place.
Alexzander Kristiansson, Greaham Hofmans and Isak Arvidsson rounded off the top ten.
The pole position has seen Linus Granfors slightly extending his points lead, now heading Elias Adestam by 19 points and Ellis Spiezia by 28 points.
The two races of tomorrow offer a total of 62 points, meaning that Jonathan Engström – who qualified 12th following technical issues – is out of title contention, trailing the points lead by 67 points.
The penultimate NXT Gen Cup race of 2023 starts at 09:15 CEST tomorrow, followed by the final race at 13:05 – both broadcast LIVE in the NXT Gen Cup YouTube channel.
Schedule
Friday September 22nd
08:00 – Test 1
12:55 – Test 2
16:55 – Qualifying
Saturday September 23rd
09:15 – Race 1
13:05 – Race 2
Times in CEST
Points and results
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 – Louse Larsson – Sweden
91 - Sebastian Serban - Romania*
= Guest entry, not eligible to score points
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. The fastest lap of each race awards 1 point.
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
