Mantorp hosts epic NXT Gen Cup title showdown
The very first NXT Gen Cup season finale is upon us with Mantorp Park in Sweden as host on September 22-23 where the so far biggest grid of 19 drivers will fight for the honours.
The trio of Linus Granfors, Elias Adestam and Ellis Spiezia are the main title contenders, separated by 24 points with a grand total of 66 points available during the title showdown weekend.
Lurking behind them are the title race dark horses of Enzo Hallman and Jonathan Engström who have a mathematical shot at the crown, 50 and 63 points behind respectively.
But how did the junior drivers arrive to the season finale after a total of five qualifying sessions and ten races on five different circuits in Sweden and Germany? Let’s find out by having a look at the statistics:
The first part of the season saw American ace Ellis Spiezia taking command, building up quite a substantial lead after the two races in Germany. But two tough race weekends at Gelleråsen and Knutstorp in combination with a strong resurge by both Linus Granfors and most recently Elias Adestam saw the tables turn.
Linus Granfors looked set to secure a robust lead during the penultimate race at Knutstorp, only ro receive a penalty in the final race which dropped him down to eighth place. With Elias Adestam scoring a victory in the final race, the title race got very close ahead of Mantorp.
While we have had extremely close and entertaining races this season, there has been three drivers occupying the top step of the podium. Linus Granfors and Elias Adestam have taken four wins apiece while Ellis Spiezia has claimed two. Will we see a new winner at Mantorp this weekend?
Things look a bit different when inspecting the podium finishes this season. Elias Adestam is on top, being the only driver with a 60% podium record, while we see fourth-placed Enzo Hallman sharing second place with Ellis Spiezia and Linus Granfors on five podium finishes.
Enzo Hallman is yet to take the top step of the podium but has plenty of trophies to show this year and would have been considerably closer to the title fight if his troublesome Oschersleben weekend had not happened.
Qualifying performance has been really close this season, with the five poles distributed among four drivers and Elias Adestam being the sole driver with more than one.
Qualifying is not only critical in terms of grid position for the race, it also awards points for the championship with four for pole, two for second and one for third.
And there is no doubt on that Elias Adestam is the qualifying master, having scored a total of ten points so far this season compared to seven of Linus Granfors and four for Ellis Spiezia.
The number of fastest laps looks a bit different with Linus Granfors being the clear ace of race pace, having set four of the total ten fastest laps so far this season.
While the average finish statistics mostly follow the current standings, there are some interesting discrepancies. Linus Granfors is obviously on top with an impressive average finish of 4.4, followed by Ellis Spiezia on 5.4.
Enzo Hallman is interestingly enough third on an average of 5.6, although it should be noted that the statistics exclude non-finishes of which Enzo Hallman has one compared to none of the drivers in front of him. It does still provide an indication of the pace of the Swedish driver.
Interesting to note is that Elias Adestam is down in fifth place with an average of 5.9, showing how strong he has scored in the races where he has finished at the top.
But the close title fight is far from the only fight to watch for at Mantorp Park. The drivers from position six to nine - Alexander Gustafsson, Alexzander Kristiansson, Victor Nielsen and Theo Jernberg - are separated by just 16 points.
And the fight for the final position in the top ten is wide open, with Månz Thalin currently in tenth position - closely followed by Sebastian Kinnmark, Oscar Pedersen and Siri Hökfelt - the top female driver of the season so far.
The field expands to 19 for the Mantorp Park finale as Romanian guest driver Sebastian Serban will take the seat of a newly constructed LRT NXT1 race car, a driver with plenty of electric MINI experience - having raced in hillclimb.
The season finale weekend starts on Friday with testing and qualifying, followed by the very last two races of the 2023 season - both broadcast LIVE in our 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
