Elias Adestam approached the established top pass by pass in his debut in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia and took the checkered flag in the middle of the field in the weekend’s two races at Scandinavian Raceway in Anderstorp.
18-year-old Adestam went into this weekend’s grand premiere of the prestigious racing series with little preparation behind him, where he only had time to do about 15 laps behind the wheel of his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup before the start of the season.
In addition, the initial practices in Anderstorp were marked by brake problems that further compromised the charging.
Despite that, Adestam was able to quickly work his way into the match, and then move on to Q2 – the final part of Friday’s qualifying – where the eight fastest advance. Measly two hundredths of a second separated Adestam from a place in the decisive qualifying segment.
– My goal on Friday was Q2, so to miss it by two hundredths was of course sad, says Elias Adestam. At the same time, I know in my heart that it was quite a tough goal to have after so little time in the car. In the end it was very close and I was less than a second from pole in the first Carrera Cup qualifier of my life, the first time I really got to feel new tires, so with a little distance I’m still pretty happy.
In Saturday’s season-opening race, Adestam made a good start from grid nine and immediately took two places. The Nacka son initially kept a good pace and pressured Swiss Porsche veteran Simona de Silvestro, but fell back later in the race when he couldn’t quite get the tires back to life after a restart. Adestam finished ninth.
In Race 2 later in the afternoon, Adestam was noted for eighth place.
– In the second race I made a bad start and got stuck in traffic further down the field, explains Elias Adestam. Once I got past the speed was better. Unfortunately I made a small mistake in Turn 4 which cost some time, but during the second half of the race I had good life in the tires and was able to make up a lot.
Adestam sums up the premiere weekend in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia with both sweet and salty.
– I will never be completely satisfied with eighth place, but you also have to start somewhere, concludes Elias Adestam. This is a huge step up from everything else I’ve done earlier in my career; my first race at senior level. I learned a lot this weekend and got faster and faster with each session. All in all, and considering the circumstances, it has been a good weekend.
The premiere in Anderstorp was the first of a total of six races in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia 2024. The next stop on the calendar is Gelleråsen Arena on June 1-2.
Results
Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia
Rd. 1 – Anderstorp
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