Esports World Cup: Shock as Porsche Coanda out ahead of final

Day three of the Esports World Cup has thrown up the biggest shock in the competition’s three-year history, as number one seed Porsche Coanda were knocked out before the final. They, alongside five others, have made way for the final trio after a terrific three days of racing. 

Day 1

The field was nine teams strong when the tournament started out on Tuesday, during the opening week of the Esports World Cup in Riyadh. Porsche Coanda, Team Redine and Virtus.pro were given a bye through the first day as the first three seeds from the 2025 online season. 

This left two groups of three, with the first-placed team from each going into day two, and the second and one third-placed team into a last chance race at Daytona to decide their fate.

In Group A, Team Vitality put in a dominant performance and would earn the fourth seed with the biggest points haul of any team on the day. 

It started right from the first race, as Jiri Toman won from Marcell Csincsik, and they reversed positions in the next race. A podium lockout from the team secured their safety and a place in Wednesday’s group stage. 

Despite a stumble from BS+ Competition’s Nikodem Wisniewski and Ferris Stanley in the first race, the BMW team did more than enough to finish second in the group, seeing them into the last chance race. This was because of a disappointing performance from Team MSI, who scored far too few points and would be out after just three races. 

The nail in the coffin really came in race two, as Jamie Fluke battled for a podium place. He would end up, unfortunately, spinning and falling to the back, costing his team more than 10 points and giving some away to the other teams.

Group B was much closer, and it kicked off with a barnstormer at the virtual Jeddah venue, won by Max Benecke of MOUZ just ahead of Dominik Blajer from Williams. And the next race, it was Team Falcons on top, as Przmeslaw Lemanek took his first ever R1 victory, setting up a great finale with all three teams covered by just one point. 

The Hockenheimring was the venue, and it was really all sorted on lap one. Yuri Kasdorp tried to make a move down the inside of the hairpin, and a domino effect of contact spun Blajer and Maciejewski (Falcons), locking the podium out for MOUZ. 

The other two teams would be forced into the last chance race at Daytona, a race defined by teamwork. Dominik Blajer and Tobias Pfeffer of Williams were both on the first two rows after Qualifying, with Caique Oliveira in between them. 

Oliveira had to try and keep the teammates apart, because a 1-2 would be difficult to overhaul in the slipstream, but he didn’t, and by lap four they were together. Despite a penalty for Pfeffer and their other teammates in the bottom half of the field, Williams had just enough points to scrape through to the group stage. 

Day 2

The tone was set for the competition on day two, when the two pre-tournament favourites lined up four wide out of the first corner of their first race. Two Redline and Porsche Coanda cars would all make it through, and generally have a comfortable day, with Redline beating Porsche Coanda by around 30 points, but both starting day three in the Upper Bracket. 

For the others, it was much more fraught. Williams Sim Racing had a very difficult start – against the ‘big two’ – and scored only 11 points in their first race. Dominik Blajer got them back on track by passing Jiri Toman late into race four, and they capitalised on missteps, particularly from MOUZ, in their final two races to be confirmed through before the final race of the day. 

For Virtus.pro, Vitality and MOUZ, it would all come down to the final race. The three were separated by just eight points going into their last race, with the loser going home. 

Daire McCormack and Kevin Ellis Jr’s Qualifying performance effectively secured their safety, and in the end, a place in the Upper Bracket, but it was chaos behind. MOUZ was running three points behind Vitality with a few laps to go, before passes by Yuri Kasdorp and Moritz Lohner put them a single point in front of Vitality. 

Into the final sector of the Hockenheimring, Erhan Jajovski of Vitality did all he could by slowing up Kasdorp into the final sector. The Dutchman misjudged his braking point, clattering into Jajovski and earning MOUZ a crucial penalty – three seconds time and four points in the standings, and with the gap so close, MOUZ would be knocked out of the competition. 

Day 3

The Upper Bracket would start at Jeddah, and it started well for Redline and Virtus.pro, with Luke Bennett holding off Daire McCormack. The early trouble would continue for Porsche Coanda, as Virtus.pro worked well together to secure a one-two at Daytona. 

With almost all hope in their first chance gone, Virtus.pro then qualified in the bottom four spots at Spa. Fortunately for them, the Porsches then tripped over each other on the Kemmel straight at the start, with Josh Rogers suffering his worst ever three-race run in R1 history, and Virtus.pro safe in the Final alongside Redline.

Porsche Coanda would have another chance, this time against Team Vitality and Williams Sim Racing. And their first race was solid, although they didn’t win, they did occupy second, third and fourth. 

However, a multi-car incident at Hockenheim’s hairpin in race two took all of their cars to the back, with Vitality scoring 71 out of a maximum 74 points in a single race. With over 20 points to make up, they needed a good qualifying for the finale. 

Josh Rogers would secure another R1 pole, but his teammates were in the midfield, with Jiri Toman and Marcell Csincsik already ahead of them. The Australian would be under severe pressure at the start, but far more costly was Charlie Collins’ spin after a four-wide moment into turn three. 

That would effectively secure their fate, and the 2023 champions were out in the competition’s biggest ever shock. Team Vitality won another race with Jiri Toman, their third of the day, and will join Redline and Virtus.pro in the Esports World Cup Final.