Did you miss the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup on iRacing last weekend? Here are the results and standings after PESC Round 3 on Long Beach.
Image credit: Porsche
Round 3 of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup has for the last few years been an opportunity for the fans to dictate where the drivers race. This season was no exception, as the trackvote was between Imola, Laguna Seca and the Long Beach street circuit.
The vote went the way of Long Beach, making it the first ever time that the series would compete on a street track. With the level of aggression that the drivers have already displayed in the first two rounds, there was sense of inevitability in the air. Indeed, the races proved to be chaotic. Here is our recap of all the action from the third round of PESC.
Marcenò Leads Altus 1-2
In qualifying, it was disaster for title protagonist Zac Campbell. In the first of three ‘home’ rounds for the American, he invalidated his one and only lap. The severity of this mistake was exacerbated by the difficulty in overtaking on the tight street circuit. Pole went the way of the other prior polesitterthis season; Altus’ Jordan Caruso. He grabbed it by two tenths over teammate Simone Maria Marcenò.
Behind the two Altus cars were the Stormforce cars of Yohann Harth and Alejandro Sánchez. Diogo Pinto and Sebastian Job could only manage sixth and seventh ahead of Charlie Collins whilst Campbell was 30th and last on the grid.
At the start, it was Marcenò who got the better launch and settled into the lead. Further back though, there was chaos aplenty. A couple of drivers came together and spun before heading to the first braking zone, there was a pile-up in the fountain section, and then another at the hairpin when the field concertinaed together and caused a blockage.
One of those who fell victim to the infamous Long Beach hairpin was reigning champion and championship leader Pinto. He was tapped into a spin and then flipped upside down. Pinto was out of the race, meaning it was his first non score since the Barcelona main race in 2022.
Championship rivals Caruso and Collins stood to make massive inroads on Pinto’s championship lead. But, at the front, Simone Maria Marcenò claimed his first ever PESC win in only his fifth race, while Caruso made it an Altus 1-2. It would have been a Noah’s Ark formation of Altus, Stormforce ART and Coanda if not for Harth incurring a slowdown penalty on the final lap, dropping him to sixth.
Sprint Race Result:
1. Simone Maria Marcenò (ITA, Altus Esports)
2. Jordan Caruso (AUS, Altus Esports) +0.562
3. Alejandro Sánchez (ESP, Stormforce Racing ART) +0.803
4. Bryn Collins (GBR, VRS Coanda) +1.898
5. Charlie Collins (GBR, VRS Coanda) +3.091
Job Breaks his Curse
Heading onto the last lap of the Sprint, Quentin Vialatte was sitting in eighth which would mean pole for the Main Race. But, when Alessandro Bico tried a bold move at the hairpin, it compromised them as well as Cooper Webster, thus allowing Bobby Zalenski to find his way to eighth.
Zalenski therefore lined up on pole. However, he immediately conceded the lead with a dreadful getaway. It got worse as teammate Bryn Collins lost control heading towards T1 after being clipped by Jordan Caruso. Subsequently, both Zalenski and Alejandro Sánchez were knocked into the tyre barrier.
Job leapt off the line and held an advantage of over one second to Collins after only a few corners. Meanwhile behind, plenty of drivers got caught up in incidents such as Jamie Fluke, Gianni Vecchio and even Zac Campbell.
The race settled into a rhythm, Yohann Harth climbed as high as second, but then dropped back behind Collins, Caruso and Webster. Collins began making inroads on Job, but it wasn’t enough. Job earned his first victory of the season after a torrid start to his 2023 campaign.
Main Race Result:
1. Sebastian Job (GBR, Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports)
2. Charlie Collins (GBR, VRS Coanda) +0.438
3. Jordan Caruso (AUS, Altus Esports) +0.820
4. Cooper Webster (AUS, Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports) +1.123
5. Yohann Harth (FRA, Stormforce Racing ART) +4.345
In terms of the championship, the ever consistent duo of Charlie Collins and Jordan Caruso are out front by a relatively large margin. This doesn’t mean they’re comfortable though, as both Zac Campbell and Diogo Pinto proved that one bad round can turn fortunes around very quickly.
Supercup Standings:
1. Charlie Collins (GBR, VRS Coanda) – 197
2. Jordan Caruso (AUS, Altus Esports) – 194
3. Sebastian Job (GBR, Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports) – 146
4. Diogo Pinto (PRT, Team Redline) – 146
5. Cooper Webster (AUS, Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports) – 120
All-Stars Double Trouble
As always, running before the Supercup were the All-Stars. Long Beach would act as the send-off for the 992 GT3 Cup car, as from the next round at Circuit of the Americas the 718 Cayman GT4 will take over.
In qualifying, eNASCAR champion Casey Kirwan predictably took pole. However, this time, he faced some serious competition in the form of Porsche works driver Laurin Heinrich.
Lyubov ‘LoveFortySix’ Ozeretskovskaya couldn’t make the most of her third place start and got away poorly. The same couldn’t be said for Heinrich, who shot past Kirwan off the line. Behind them, misfortune befell both Stradi and DaveCam.
It was business as usual at the front with Kirwan shadowing Heinrich the whole way. Approaching the last corner, Kirwan went for a move, but it resulted in Heinrich half spinning. Kirwan, being the sportsman that he is, got off the throttle so the DTM racer could take the win.
In the longer second race, both Heinrich and Kirwan were cutting through the field whilst DaveCam was relatively untroubled up at the front with a big lead. But, in the dying laps, the pair had eaten into DaveCam’s lead and it all came down to an incredible final corner move.
DaveCam out-dragged both Heinrich and Kirwan to the line to take his first win since his return to the series. Two strong results again for the ever-consistent Kirwan gives him an even healthier lead at the top of the championship.
Heinrich doesn’t count for points due to being a guest driver, so the next closest driver Jardier is a massive 62 points behind.
All-Stars Standings:
1. Casey Kirwan (USA) – 130
2. Jaroslav ‘Jardier’ Honzik (CZE) – 68
3. Oliver ‘Basic Ollie’ Furnell (GBR) – 66
4. Tyson ‘Quirkitized’ Meier (USA) – 65
5. Xabier ‘Heikki360’ Sánchez (ESP) – 59
Road Trip to Texas
The PESC drivers are off to the Lone Star state after their Cali beach trip and they’ll be tackling the US Grand Prix track, Circuit of the Americas. All the racing will be broadcast on Porsche’s YouTube and Twitch channels starting at 7pm CET on 18 March.
To rewatch all the action from the Long Beach, the entire stream is available 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!
