Aquila Formula 1000 made its first stop outside Sweden this season as the sixth and second-to-last round was decided at Rudskogen in Norway. Last year’s champion Linus Stjernelund made a comeback with pole position and two wins, while home driver Even Hoff Knai extended his championship lead ahead of the finale.
Heading into the weekend, only three points separated Hoff Knai and Albin Gustafsson at the top of both the overall standings and the Junior standings. On a track that was new to the entire field, the pair were this time joined at the top by reigning junior champion Linus Stjernelund.
After ten months without competing, Stjernelund set the tone immediately by qualifying on pole and winning the first race ahead of Hoff Knai and Mason Bjerring.
“Really great fun to get the chance to race again! After ten months without competing, it was nice to be able to show what I can do again. Another weekend that turned out to be almost perfect, and on a track I’d wanted to race on for a long time too,” says Linus Stjernelund.
The first race ended early after a spectacular incident between guest driver and Esport-SM winner Erik Blixt and the already-crowned senior champion Andreas Skatteboe. Blixt’s car ended up on top of Skatteboe’s and the race was red-flagged. Both drivers were able to walk away from the incident unhurt.
For Hoff Knai, the red flag meant a planned attack on Stjernelund never got the chance to happen.
“The weekend started well with second place in qualifying, just 0.023 seconds off pole. In the first race, Linus and I got a gap and worked together to pull away. With four minutes left I started planning the attack for the win, but then the red flag came out. A second place still gave really good points and we extended our championship lead,” says Even Hoff Knai.
In race two, the Norwegian instead got to celebrate a home win in front of sponsors, family, and friends. Hoff Knai won ahead of Gustafsson and Stjernelund, with Enzo Cohlin and Bjerring close behind.
Stjernelund then closed out his comeback weekend with his second win in race three, ahead of Gustafsson and Hoff Knai. For the championship leader, the road to the podium was considerably longer after he was spun around on the first lap and dropped back to last place.
“After that it was 110 percent focus on pushing forward and clawing back as many positions as possible. Getting back to third place was really good damage limitation. I also got to show the pace we had – from 15 seconds behind to just four thousandths off second place,” says Hoff Knai.
Behind the top three, Erik Blixt finished his debut weekend in fourth place. Pete Norbäck was up near the front all weekend with finishes of fourth, sixth, and fifth – and also got to step onto the junior podium in Races 1 and 3 – while Bjerring took a podium finish in the first race. Carl-Wilhelm Björnemalm meanwhile continued his development in his first season of car racing, finishing the weekend in sixth place.
Gustafsson posted two second places on Sunday, keeping the fight for the Overall Championship and the Junior championship alive. Hoff Knai leaves Rudskogen with 605 points against Gustafsson’s 586, meaning the gap has grown from three to 19 points ahead of the finale. Enzo Cohlin is third with 439 points.
Hoff Knai also leads the Rookie Championship, while in the Senior Championship Skatteboe has already been confirmed champion.
Now only the finale at Ring Djursland in Denmark on 19-20 September remains before the 2026 Aquila Formula 1000 champions are crowned.
