The fourth race of the 2022 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season took the All-Stars and the World Championship level drivers to Silverstone for another heated contest. After a spirited battle in the closing laps, Alejandro Sánchez (SDK Gaming) was able to hold off Charlie Collins (VRS) for the feature race victory.
Starting on the pole position following a Top 8 invert, Sánchez battled with Collins throughout the event. At one point, Collins looked to have the upper hand, taking the lead on the third lap. However, with six laps to go, Sánchez moved his way back in front and never faltered.
Silverstone marks Sánchez’s first victory of the 2022 season, and the second feature win of his career. Sánchez’s only other feature race win also came at Silverstone two years ago in the 2020 campaign. He also has two sprint race victories from that 2020 season, at Road Atlanta and Brands Hatch.
The previous winner in the series, Zac Campbell (VRS) managed to fight back to finish in third in the feature. Points leader Diogo C. Pinto battled his way up to finish fourth while his Team Redline teammate Maximillian Benecke rounded out the Top 5.
SPRINT RACE – SEBASTIAN JOB BACK TO BACK
To kick things off at Silverstone, it was Sebastian Job (Red Bull Racing Esports) at the top of the charts. Job won the pole position over Benecke with a lap time of 1:59.487 seconds. Top five in qualifying get points, so Job started the day with 10 and Benecke with eight. Pinto, Tuomas Tähtelä (KOVA Esports) and Campbell rounded out the Top 5 in qualifying.
In the sprint, Tähtelä failed to grid, so that gave Campbell an easy route into fourth. The battle for fifth would be heavily contested throughout. As the Top 4 broke away from the rest of the field, Dayne Warren (Coanda), Graham Carroll (Red Bull Racing Esports) and Collins would tussle for a Top 5 spot, knowing that a better finish would give them a lesser starting spot in the feature.
Meanwhile, the battle for eighth was also highly contested. Finishing eighth, as it is every week, means a start from the top spot in the feature race. Kevin Ellis Jr (Apex Racing Team) started in that spot, but Sánchez would best him for it and take the pole position. Ninth place and further back would have to settle for starting in the same place they finished in the sprint.
For the sprint win, Benecke showed his nose a few times on Job, but never in an opportune area. Job held on strong to become the first driver to win multiple of any race on the 2022 season.
SILVERSTONE SPRINT RACE TOP 10
| POS. | CAR # | DRIVER | TEAM | INT. | PTS |
| 1 | 22 | Sebastian Job | Red Bull Racing Esports | 7 LAPS | 35 |
| 2 | 11 | Maximilian Benecke | Team Redline | +0.240 sec | 30 |
| 3 | 44 | Diogo C. Pinto | Team Redline | +0.508 sec | 26 |
| 4 | 15 | Zac Campbell | VRS | +1.246 sec | 20 |
| 5 | 57 | Dayne Warren | Coanda | +2.663 sec | 16 |
| 6 | 21 | Graham Carroll | Red Bull Racing Esports | +3.271 sec | 15 |
| 7 | 93 | Charlie Collins | VRS | +3.492 sec | 14 |
| 8 | 47 | Alejandro Sánchez | SDK Gaming | +3.874 sec | 13 |
| 9 | 98 | Kevin Ellis Jr | Apex Racing Team | +4.038 sec | 12 |
| 10 | 70 | Gianni Vecchio | Team Redline | +4.419 sec | 11 |
FEATURE RACE – ALEJANDRO SÁNCHEZ VICTORIOUS
With the pole position for the feature, Sánchez arguable had seven faster cars behind him based on the results of the previous sprint race. However, track position seems to be key in these PESC races, and sure enough, it played a huge role in his overall win.
It was a clean start off the line for Sánchez as the rest of the field worked to figure out where to fall into line. The clean didn’t last in the middle of the pack, as Jeremy Bouteloup (Coanda) managed to get spun around and collected Jack Sedgwick (ineX Racing) and many others.
Gianni Vecchio (Team Redline), Jeff Giassi (Team Redline), Oskar Biksrud (Coanda) and Jordan Caruso (Logitech G Altus Racing) all failed to complete the first lap. Sedgwick would retire a few laps later.
Meanwhile up front, Pinto was on a mission to get as many points as possible. His aggression played into some contact, including a spin with Warren and then some contact with Carroll. Still, Pinto stayed under the incident limit and managed a fourth place effort.
The result was another three-car breakaway from the field. Sánchez had it, but Collins wanted it too. Collins made the move into the lead on the third lap and held onto it as long as he could. However, with six laps to go, Sánchez was ready to take it back.
With the fighting for the lead, Campbell made his presence known in the battle for the victory. The Interlagos victor was looking to strike in case the two in front got into it, but it stayed clean and green until the end.
Sánchez becomes the fourth different feature winner on the 2022 season, and the seventh different driver to win either the sprint or feature race on the season.
SILVERSTONE FEATURE RACE TOP 10
| POS. | CAR # | DRIVER | TEAM | INT. | PTS |
| 1 | 47 | Alejandro Sánchez | SDK Gaming | 14 LAPS | 50 |
| 2 | 93 | Charlie Collins | VRS | +0.284 sec | 45 |
| 3 | 15 | Zac Campbell | VRS | +0.944 sec | 40 |
| 4 | 44 | Diogo C. Pinto | Team Redline | +1.645 sec | 37 |
| 5 | 11 | Maximilian Benecke | Team Redline | +1.971 sec | 34 |
| 6 | 22 | Sebastian Job | Red Bull Racing Esports | +2.495 sec | 31 |
| 7 | 21 | Graham Carroll | Red Bull Racing Esports | +3.455 sec | 28 |
| 8 | 98 | Kevin Ellis Jr | Apex Racing Team | +4.116 sec | 26 |
| 9 | 49 | Jamie Fluke | Apex Racing Team | +4.659 sec | 24 |
| 10 | 17 | Matti Sipilä [R] | KOVA Esports | +4.897 sec | 22 |
POINTS SITUATION LEAVING SILVERSTONE
Heading out of Silverstone, Pinto managed to maintain his lead in the overall standings by 20 over Campbell, who moves up to second. Bouteloup was second, but after a dismal day, he falls down to sixth, just ahead of his Coanda teammate Ayhancan Güven who didn’t race PESC due to real life commitments.
Ellis Jr and Jamie Fluke (Apex Racing Team) sit tied for third overall after an average day at the track. With Job’s pole, sprint win and sixth place effort, he moves up to the Top 5 in the standings, 51 points behind the top spot.
POINTS STANDINGS AFTER RACE #4 – SILVERSTONE
| POS. | CAR # | DRIVER | TEAM | TOTAL PTS | SP. WINS | FEAT. WINS |
| 1 | 44 | Diogo C. Pinto | Team Redline | 218* | 1 | |
| 2 | 15 | Zac Campbell | VRS | 198 | 1 | |
| 3 | 98 | Kevin Ellis Jr | Apex Racing Team | 168 | 1 | |
| 3 | 49 | Jamie Fluke | Apex Racing Team | 168 | ||
| 5 | 22 | Sebastian Job | Red Bull Racing Esports | 167 | 2 | |
| 6 | 77 | Jeremy Bouteloup | Coanda | 161 | ||
| 7 | 53 | Ayhancan Güven | Coanda | 148 | 1 | |
| 8 | 11 | Maximilian Benecke | Team Redline | 142* | ||
| 9 | 47 | Alejandro Sánchez | SDK Gaming | 133 | 1 | |
| 10 | 93 | Charlie Collins | VRS | 130* |
ALL STARS – JARDIER, KIRWAN DELIVER WINS AT SILVERSTONE
The race day started off with the usual suspects in the PESC All-Stars taking to the track first in their own Porsche racing competition. This time in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 cars, the All-Stars would find themselves in a slower, less planted car than the cars they were driving, the 992 Cup cars.
Tyson Meier, also known as Quirkitized, scored the pole position with eNASCAR star Casey Kirwan alongside. Quirk and Kirwan battled it out in the eight lap sprint race with Emily Jones (Emree), Borja Zazo, Xabier Sanchez (Heikki360es) and Jaroslav Honzik (Jardier) all keeping within reach. As Emree, Quirk and Kirwan went three wide for the lead, Jardier took advantage to go from fourth to first and win.
Kirwan wound up with an incident limit penalty, so his sprint race finish wound up outside of the points. With the reverse grid for the feature, Matt Malone and Kirwan were the early stars. Kirwan eventually managed to get into the top spot, but by that time, Quirk had found his way into the conversation. Emree was on her way back as well, but wound up with mechanical issues. Kirwan went on to win.
In the All-Star points, Quirk leads by 27 points now over Emree and 31 over Borja Zazo. Jardier jumps up to fourth and is 40 points out of it. Jimmy Broadbent and Tony Kanaan did not race, both due to real life racing commitments.
PESC ALL-STARS POINTS AFTER RACE #4 – SILVERSTONE
| POS. | DRIVER | TOTAL PTS | SP. WINS | FEAT. WINS |
| 1 | Tyson Meier (Quirkitized) | 146 | 1 | |
| 2 | Emily Jones (Emree) | 119 | 1 | |
| 3 | Borja Zazo | 115 | ||
| 4 | Jaroslav Honzik (Jardier) | 106 | 1 | |
| 5 | Daniel Sosulski (Dan Suzuki) | 98 | ||
| 6 | Xabier Sanchez (Heikki360es) | 90 | 1 | |
| 7 | Matt Malone | 85 | ||
| 8 | James West (GamerMuscle) | 60 | ||
| 9 | Laurin Heinrich | 55 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | Jimmy Broadbent | 55 | 1 |
UP NEXT
PESC has a quick turn around, only a week’s time before the fifth race event of the 2022 season at the Red Bull Ring. Both the All Stars and the Pro drivers will be on display around the Austrian venue for the halfway point in the 2022 season.
This will be the first trip for the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup to the venue. Only the Force Dynamics Dallara iRacing iR-01 Grand Prix Series has an official World Championship level result from last season as the track is new to iRacing. In the open wheel vehicles, Peter Berryman was victorious.
There will be a lot of uncertainty, but I would expect the Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports drivers, especially the 2020 champion Sebastian Job, to put in as much practice as possible for a possible top result. The coverage starts at 1:30 p.m. EDT / 6:30 p.m. BST over on the Porsche Twitch channel with the All Stars on first, then 3:00 p.m. EDT / 8:00 p.m. BST for the World Championship event.
2022 PORSCHE TAG HEUER ESPORTS SUPERCUP SCHEDULE
| DATE | TRACK | SPRINT LAPS | FEATURE LAPS |
| 26th March | Red Bull Ring | 10 | 20 |
| 9th April | Circuit Gilles Villeneuve | 10 | 20 |
| 23rd April | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | 6 | 12 |
| 7th May | Nürburgring – Gesamtstrecke 24H | 3 | 4 |
| 21st May | Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans | 3 | 6 |
| 4th June | Autodromo Nazionale Monza | 7 | 14 |
