The third round of the Radical Cup Scandinavia changed with only minutes remaining of Friday's opening practice. The engine in Petrovic's Radical SR3 failed without warning. The unit was new and had completed just two race weekends, making the failure both rare and unexpected. It will return to Radical Sportscars in England for investigation.

Vortex Performance took car 42 back to its headquarters and began an engine change immediately. The aim was to return for qualifying and Race 1 later that afternoon, but oil from the failure had spread throughout the car and the clean-up could not be rushed. Time ran out, leaving Petrovic without a qualifying lap or a start in the opening race.

Stevan Petrovic in the Ring Knutstorp paddock after Friday's engine failure
a full day of running lost before the recovery began

With no qualifying time, Petrovic started Race 2 from the back of the grid. He reached the chequered flag fourth on the road and was classified third following a post-race disqualification, setting the fastest lap of the race in 59.244 seconds along the way. It was a significant recovery and a reward for the work that had gone into returning the car to the circuit.

Losing all of Friday was difficult, especially at this point in the championship. The team did an incredible job to give me the car back. From there, the only option was to recover as much as we could.

stevan petrovic
The number 42 Radical SR3 at speed during the Ring Knutstorp recovery drive
from the back of the grid to the podium and fastest lap

Race 3 brought another recovery. Starting from pole position, Petrovic took the lead and began to build a gap before a mistake at the first corner sent the car off the circuit. He rejoined down the order, drove back to second and finished just 0.311 seconds behind winner Rasmus Hedberg, again setting the fastest lap.

The missed opening race made Knutstorp a weekend of damage limitation, but two podiums and two fastest laps kept car 42 at the top of the standings. Petrovic heads to the Jyllandsringen finale on 233 points, ten ahead of Ludvig Bäck and fifteen ahead of Rasmus Hedberg.

There was another result to take from the weekend. Despite missing qualifying at Knutstorp, Petrovic's performances across the season were enough to secure the 2026 Pole Position Award. Thanks go to Sekvens and Fortis for supporting the award and recognising qualifying performance throughout the championship.