NXT Gen Cup statistics deep dive
The inaugural NXT Gen Cup season became a thriller from start to finish. The title fight went down to the very last race and a mere three points separated champion Elias Adestam and vice champion Linus Granfors.
We had ten different podium finishes and plenty of thrilling fights on track. But how did we get here? Join us for a deep dive into the statistics.
The young talents of NXT Gen Cup completed a total of 6995 laps and 17 732 kilometres together in testing, qualifying and races throughout the six race weekends and pre-season testing behind their all-electric LRT NXT1 race cars on six different circuits in Sweden and Germany from June to September.
A total of 23 drivers from eight different countries took part in the 2023 season, including Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Czechia, Great Britain, Germany, United States and Romania.
The closest victory margin was 0.118 seconds (Granfors/Hallman, Gelleråsen R2) and the biggest victory margin was 4.118 seconds (Granfors, Nürburgring R2) for an average total margin of just 0.890 seconds!
American racer Ellis Spiezia took command early on and extended his lead to 35 points at most after the Nürburgring races.
Then it was Linus Granfors’ turn who claimed the points lead after the Gelleråsen weekend, leading title rival Elias Adestam by 19 points heading into the Mantorp season finale.
The controversial and thrilling season finale race then saw Elias Adestam claiming the title by just three points over Linus Granfors!
Interesting to note is the impressive charge by Danish Mikkel Njor racer who joined at mid-point of the season to finish tenth overall, clinching his maiden win in the last race of the season.
The average finish statistics tells a different story as vice-champion Linus Granfors is on top with an impressive average finishing position of 3.8!
Enzo Hallman, who finished fourth overall, has the second best average of 4.3 ahead of Ellis Spiezia on 5.1.
Champion Elias Adestam is only fourth with an average of 5.3.
But it should be noted that the statistics exclude non finishes which improves the average for some drivers, while for example Elias Adestam gets a worse average as he managed to finish all races, albeit at lower positions in some races - still scoring vital points.
The number of wins follows the final championship standings however, with champion Elias Adestam alone on five wins, Granfors on four, Spiezia on two and Njor on one.
While four drivers were alone in winning races, there were a total of ten drivers stepping onto the podium throughout the 2023 season.
Champion Elias Adestam is once again on top with an impressive seven podiums, meaning that he reached the podium in more than half of the 12 races this year.
The trio of Linus Granfors, Ellis Spiezia and Enzo Hallman reached the podium in 50% of the races.
Vice-champion Linus Granfors is doubtlessly the king of race pace, having claimed a total of four fastest laps, twice the amount compared to his closest rivals Jonathan Engström and Ellis Spiezia.
As we turn our attention to qualifying, title rivals Elias Adestam and Linus Granfors were the only two drivers to start from pole position more than once this year.
Lukas Stiefelhagen impressed by claiming a pole position on his debut in the tricky conditions at Knutstorp, sharing third place with Ellis Spiezia.
Qualifying is not only critical in terms of grid position, but also for the championship as it awards points, four for pole, two for second and one for third.
And title rivals Elias Adestam and Linus Granfors are once again closely matched, having both scored a total of eleven qualifying points throughout the season, while Enzo Hallman was a distant third with five qualifying points.
And if we look even closer into the qualifying statistics, we can see that while Linus Granfors was the king of race pace, Elias Adestam is the king of qualifying.
The champion had an average grid position (for Race 1) of 2.8 while Linus Granfors had 3.2.
Enzo Hallman, who finished fourth overall, has got the third best average of 4.0 while Ellis Spiezia, who finished third overall, could only manage the fifth best qualifying average of 5.5
Interesting to note is the strong qualifying performance by Theo Jernberg with an average of 5.0, despite finishing down in ninth place in the final championship standings.
The 2023 season finale at Mantorp Park concluded a thrilling first season and everyone at NXT Gen Cup would like to extend a big thanks to everyone who has followed and supported us throughout the year. We’ve got exciting news coming for next year, keep an eye out throughout the autumn and winter!
Are you interested in joining NXT Gen Cup for 2024? Get in touch!
