Did you miss the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup on iRacing last weekend? Here are the results and standings after PESC Round 5 at the Red Bull Ring.
Image credit: Porsche
We’re at the halfway point of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup. This round saw the Supercup drivers race on the Red Bull Ring.
Last time out at the Circuit of the Americas, Alejandro Sánchez and Diogo Pinto took the victories. Despite having never won a PESC race, Altus Esports’ Jordan Caruso claimed the championship lead for the first time thanks to his incredible consistency.
Long Time Coming
After Group A wrapped up their qualifying, just like last week it was Alejandro Sánchez who came out on top. As the first five in the standings went out, Sánchez watched on. But after none of them overcame his lap time once more, so for the second straight round, the Stormforce Racing ART driver was on pole, with championship leader Caruso alongside.
At the start, Sánchez got a good start. Campbell, having initially ran wide at T1, got passed by Pinto and muscled his way back through at T3.
Caruso didn’t let Sánchez get away, and halfway through the Aussie went in for the kill. He pulled alongside heading towards T4 and made it stick. Sánchez was soon swarmed, dropping to fifth.
Caruso managed to hold on to take his first ever win in the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup, fending off Diogo Pinto behind. Meanwhile, Moreno Sirica finished 8th, claiming reverse grid pole for the main race.
Sprint Race Result:
1. Jordan Caruso (AUS, Altus Esports)
2. Diogo Pinto (PRT, Team Redline) +1.152
3. Sebastian Job (GBR, Oracle Red Bull Racing) +2.037
4. Zac Campbell (USA, VRS Coanda) +2.548
5. Alejandro Sánchez (ESP, Stormforce Racing ART) +3.424
Ariel Masterclass
At the start of the main race, Jamie Fluke got one over on Sirica and took the lead. Fluke proceeded to build as much of a gap as he possibly could out at the front.
Before long, both Sánchez and Pinto had made their past the drivers separating them from leader Fluke, and they set about catching up to the Northern Irishman.
Come lap 8 and they had managed to pull it off, in spite of Fluke’s best efforts. The Apex racer subsequently fell into the clutches of a few drivers behind.
Sánchez and Pinto then created a decent gap. However, Soenen, Ariel and Campbell all caught up to the leading pair with just a few laps to go. It made for one hell of a grandstand finish.
Heading on to the 18th of 20 laps, Pinto made a pass on Sánchez at T9 but the long time race leader elbowed his way back in front, resulting in the reigning champion having to go off track. This allowed Ariel to get in front of Sánchez to take the lead!
Eventually, it was Gustavo Ariel who benefitted from a coming together between Pinto and Sánchez to win the race. The Brazilian – who is backed by PESC All-Stars competitor Tony Kanaan – became a new PESC race winner after starting tenth!
Main Race Result:
1. Gustavo Ariel (BRA, TXC Racing by TK)
2. Alejandro Sánchez (ESP, Stormforce Racing ART) +0.916
3. Diogo Pinto (PRT, Team Redline) +1.505
4. Zac Campbell (USA, VRS Coanda) +1.968
5. Jamie Fluke (GBR, Apex Racing Team) +2.099
In the midst of the chaos up front, Charlie Collins had managed to somehow join the leading pack and finished seventh after having started 25th due to penalties. Caruso now holds a 31 point lead to Collins, who in turn is one ahead of Pinto.
The strong form of Alejandro Sánchez in the previous few rounds has brought him into play. But it’s still quite a fair margin back from Pinto, Collins and Caruso, whilst Sebastian Job endured another nightmare after earning a drive through penalty.
Supercup Standings:
1. Jordan Caruso (AUS, Altus Esports) – 302
2. Charlie Collins (GBR, VRS Coanda) – 271
3. Diogo Pinto (PRT, Team Redline) – 270
4. Alejandro Sánchez (ESP, Stormforce Racing ART) – 229
5. Sebastian Job (GBR, Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports) – 213
New Winner in All-Stars
Now for the fun races by the streamers and content creators in the All-Stars. After impressing on his debut, Pablo Lopez was back to merely give runaway leader Casey Kirwan some semblance of competition. The eNASCAR champion put it on pole ahead of Lopez, Quirkitized and Emree, but at the start of the Sprint Race, Lopez beat Kirwan to T1.
He then lost a position to his compatriot Quirk, but gained it back almost immediately. They then both began tussling for the lead with Lopez, and after many gripping slipstreaming duels, Kirwan just edged out Lopez to take the Sprint Race win.
In the fully inverted grid Main Race, former pro racer Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya would begin on pole ahead of Christian ‘Keny500’ Ortega. The Spanish language Twitch streamer with nearly 25k followers has had a pretty uneventful tenure in the All-Stars, but that was about to change.
Early on in the race, three of the four runaway leaders from the Sprint were eliminated. Emree lost control over the T1 kerb and collected both Quirk and Kirwan! That only left Pablo Lopez as a relatively credible threat to make his way to the front. Once Lopez was in second, he made huge inroads on Keny500 and it seemed all but inevitable.
Lopez made the move for the lead with five laps to go, but Keny500 didn’t relent. He held Lopez back, who then attempted a pass at T10 but on the start finish straight, they got too close for comfort. Lopez ended up spinning after catching Keny500’s bumper, which let Jardier into the lead.
But heading into T1 on the final lap, Keny500 launched a move on a caught out Jardier into T1 which he pulled off. Jardier tried to set up a repass but didn’t get the drive out of T3, leaving Keny500 to take his first win in the All-Stars.
Borja Zazo followed Jardier home, who now sits pretty much level pegging with Emree and Quirk. With Kirwan pretty much having won the title already, it’s the race for second that’s the most interesting.
All-Stars Standings:
1. Casey Kirwan (USA) – 216
2. Jaroslav ‘Jardier’ Honzik (CZE) – 114
3. Emily ‘Emree’ Jones (AUS) – 113
4. Tyson ‘Quirkitized’ Meier (USA) – 113
5. Xabier ‘Heikki360’ Sánchez (ESP) – 95
Back To America
The next stop on the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup schedule is the third and final trip Stateside. The drivers will tackle the high speed Watkins Glen short circuit, skipping the horseshoe section. Plus it won’t have to be as long to wait as usual, it will be this weekend, 8 April!
All the racing from the Supercup and All-Stars drivers will be broadcast from 8pm CEST on Porsche’s YouTube and Twitch channels. In the meantime, if you want to catchup on the Red Bull Ring races, the entire broadcast is available to watch below.
Who impressed you the most in the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
