Elias Adestam wrote a piece of Swedish and international motorsport history when he took home the victory in the world’s first electrified racing race for juniors at a spectacular premiere of the new NXT Gen Cup in Falkenberg.

Adestam immediately showed his intentions when the innovative racing championship, which has already caught the eyes of the world with a total of 18 drivers from six different countries on the starting line, kicked off with great success this weekend. The 17-year-old Nacka son stormed to pole position in Saturday’s time qualifying, and then managed his starting position in the best imaginable way in the very first race of the premiere season. The road to victory offered a hard-fought battle at the front involving six drivers, where Adestam ultimately walked away with the historic triumph in the all-electric car LRT NXT1.
– It feels absolutely incredible to win the first race in history for electrified junior racing, says Elias Adestam. Also from pole position – this means so much to me! I had a plan for how I would manage the race, and it worked perfectly. This is my biggest win so far.

In the closing Race 2, where the top eight from Race 1 start in reverse order, Adestam quickly began to advance from his initial eighth place. However, contact with another driver a bit into the race resulted in a time extension of 20 seconds and a resulting 15th place. The penalty was also the difference between the lead in the championship and the fifth place where Adestam now instead resides after the premiere.

– Unfortunately, it was a mistake by me in the second race and I share the judges’ decision, concludes Elias Adestam. It was a shame, and it cost the championship lead, but it is what it is and I have no one else to blame. The speed is definitely there and now I know I can fight for this championship. All in all, it’s been a great weekend and I really want to congratulate the entire NXT Gen Cup on a really successful premiere. The NXT Gen Cup now moves on to Germany, where the next two weekends of competition will be run. First up is the Oschersleben circuit outside Magdeburg on July 28-30.

Results

NXT Gen Cup
Part competition 1 – Falkenberg

Race 1 (download results)
1: Elias Adestam (SWE), 15 laps
2: Linus Granfors (SWE), +0.422s
3: Oscar Pedersen (SWE), +0.657s
4: Ellis Spiezia (USA), +0.851s
5: Enzo Hallman (SWE), +0.996s

Race 2 (download results)
1: Ellis Spiezia (USA), 17 laps
2: Enzo Hallman (SWE), +1.026s
3: Oscar Pedersen (SWE), +2.249s
4: Linus Granfors (SWE), +4.102s
5: Alex Gustavsson (SWE), +7.833s
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15: Elias Adestam (SWE), added time