Sebastian Job on the reasons for his disappointing result in the PESC season opener.
Photo credit: Porsche / Red Bull
Things did not go too well for title defender Sebastian Job in the first race of the 2021 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup. With a P12 finish in the sprint race and a DNF in the main race at Interlagos, Job is currently sitting in P21 in the standings.
OverTake spoke to the Briton to hear his verdict on the first weekend, as well as his expectations for the upcoming round at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Are teams using an exploit?
“I was very happy with how I drove on Saturday,” Job tells OverTake. “My qualifying lap was one of the best I have done in a while.” Job finished the qualifying in P12, being 0.648 seconds behind pole sitter and his biggest rival Joshua K Rogers.
“Us and a few other teams have raised concerns with the series organizers as it seems some drivers used an exploit that we made an agreement not to use, making it almost impossible to better the position I qualified in.” The first eleven spots in qualifying were all occupied by drivers racing for Coanda Simsport or Coanda drivers racing under another team’s flag. “We are awaiting a response on this as we are concerned it could be used in future races,” Sebastian goes on. However, the Red Bull Racing Esports Team driver did not go into further details on the exploit.
P1 in qualifying! 😂😂 Unfortunately game crashed in race but oh well pic.twitter.com/9VAp632eiM
— Sebastian Job (@G2Sebi) January 9, 2021
Game crash stops Job’s comeback
After qualifying, Job could not better his position in the 10-lap sprint race. “There was a collision in front of me that caused damage to my car which impacted my performance.” Having to start from P12 in the main race again, Job gained positions after a tricky start. “I was happy with the pace,” he reveals.
However, a technical issue on lap eleven would stop his run. Job had been sitting in P8 behind Maximilian Benecke when he suddenly dropped out of the game. “I’m not sure what happened, my screens went black and the game wouldn’t open up again, it’s never happened to me before,” the Briton says. As the source of the error remains unclear, Sebastian was not able to make changes to his setup. “I am just crossing my fingers that it was a random one-off.”
Mixed feelings upon Barcelona race
“We do have the pace to compete for race wins, there’s nothing that indicates otherwise,” Sebastian further explains to OverTake. However, it seems he is skeptical about reaching this goal on Saturday at Barcelona already. “I think this weekend’s race will be a bit of damage limitation, and then we can evaluate with the two-week break and go from there.”
In order to reclaim his title, Job has to defeat the elite of sim racing once again. “Rogers and Benecke I think are the main challengers,” Job predicts. But the reigning champion also has an eye on Alejandro Sánchez and Saturday’s surprise winner Kevin Ellis Jr.. “I know that Kevin is very motivated for this year,” he says.
FIRST ROUND OF PESC OFFERS HUGE SURPRISE WINNER
Watch the second round of the 2021 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup live on YouTube, airing Saturday January 16 at 6.30 PM CET.
Do you think Sebastian Job is going to have his comeback? Tweet us your opinion at @overtake_gg!
