Ellis Spiezia claims NXT Gen Cup pole by 0.031s in dramatic Oschersleben qualifying
Championship leading American driver Ellis Spiezia took pole position in a dramatic qualifying at Oschersleben in Germany, where two red flags interrupted the session. Linus Granfors finished second, just 31 thousand of a second behind Spiezia in the ultra-tight session.
With pole position at Oschersleben, Ellis Spiezia extended his lead in the 100% electric championship with two points over Granfors. The American star is racing at a track he has a lot of previous experience on.
”I think it was the most stressful session of my life. I have a system to warm up my tires, and it just so happened that the run I did through the pit lane put me five seconds wrong to set my first lap. When we restarted, I had two options, take it slow and risk getting caught by the guys behind, or go full attack straight from the pit. It was either full send, or no send. We picked the good option this time,” said Ellis Spiezia.
15-year-old Formula Nordic champion Linus Granfors set the second-fastest lap in qualifying just before the session ended with a red flag, three minutes from the finish.
”It feels great to be on the front row, but I was hoping for a pole position. When I was in the pit during the red flag, I was quite a long way down the list. Luckily I was the first car back on the track, and could set a lap without traffic. Tomorrow I hope to get a good start and take it from there,” said Linus Granfors.
Theo Jernberg improved after a strong practice, to qualify third at Oschersleben.
”With two red flags and a long track, it was hard to put the lap together, but I think I did a good job. I started from the front in Falkenberg, where the whole right side was covered in some kind of dirt, so I hope for better grip tomorrow," said Theo Jernberg.
Danish racer Victor Nielsen was fastest in practice, but were unable to improve on his practice time in qualifying. The 16-year-old rounds off the top five - 0.749 seconds from pole.
Falkenberg Race 1 winner Elias Adestam was the early pacesetter in qualifying, but got his session interrupted by the red flags and finished sixth.
Louise Larsson finished the qualifying as the fastest female driver in ninth, just 0.6 seconds ahead of Siri Hökfelt in 12th.
The qualifying at Oschersleben got red flagged twice, as the clock first stopped at 10 minutes when the track needed cleaning from gravel. The session ended with 3 minutes remaining as Filip Bartoš got caught in the gravel trap.
Next up for the NXT Gen Cup field in Germany is Race 1, starting at 12:20 CEST on Saturday 29th – broadcast LIVE on YouTube!
Results
Points
Schedule
Saturday July 29th
12:20 – Race 1 (20 min)
18:15 – Race 2 (29 min)
Times in CEST
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
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
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
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