PESC: Alessandro Bico takes Sprint while Jordan Caruso carries Feature, extends points lead after Spa

Justin Melillo
For the seventh event of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup at Spa-Francorchamps, it was Alessandro Bico and Jordan Caruso victorious.
winners spa pesc

The Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup field took a trip to the Spa on Saturday (22nd April) for the seventh round of the 2023 season. After a wacky and wild ending at Watkins Glen two weeks ago, it was expected that things would get calmer at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, but that wasn’t entirely the case.

The All-Stars kicked off the day and it was Pablo “The Pulpo” López showing the way in the Sprint. After the full field invert, it was Matt Malone holding off a host of talent to win the Feature. Casey Kirwan was one of those behind, and he’ll extend his points lead even further with the runner-up finish.

For the Supercup, Williams Esports’ Alessandro Bico was showing as the fastest man in Belgium, taking the TAG Heuer Pole Award and dominating the Sprint. After the invert, it was Altus Esports’ Jordan Caruso holding off the horns of Red Bull’s Sebastian Job in the Feature.

LÓPEZ AND MALONE, ALL-STAR WINNERS AT SPA

This All-Star season has had many great stories so far, with names like Jardier, Dave Cam and Keny500 scoring upset victories against the man who has been a dominant force all season long, that being eNASCAR champion Casey Kirwan.

However, ever since Pablo “The Pulpo” López showed up to the party at Circuit of the Americas, Kirwan has not been a shoe-in for victory lane. For only the third time this season, Kirwan was shut out from the spoils of victory, unable to capture either the Sprint or the Feature.

It wasn’t from a lack of effort, though. The series made the swap to the Porsche 911 RSR from the Cayman 718 over the last two weeks, and the differences may have caught out the dominant one on the opening lap of the Sprint.

After having a side-by-side battle with López down the Kemmel Straight, Kirwan tried to out-brake and take the lead. Instead, it was a lawn-mowing session through Les Combes, ultimately resulting in a slow-down penalty and a 10th place finish.

López went on to score the victory, but both Emily “Emree” Jones and Dave Cam were able to keep him honest, finishing within the lead pack.

ALL-STARS: SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS SPRINT RACE TOP 10 RESULTS

FINSTACAR #DRIVERINTERVALSPRINT PTSAGG PTS
11504The Pulpo López7 LAPS2528
2351Emree+0.602 sec2121
34786Dave Cam+1.563 sec1717
46182Keny500+7.702 sec1414
5546LoveFortySix+8.222 sec1212
6981Stradi+8.568 sec1010
71139Jardier+8.956 sec99
8823Heikki360ES+9.411 sec88
971Quirkitized+9.922 sec77
10295Casey Kirwan+11.947 sec66

The invert would put Dan Suzuki to the front of the field for the Feature, and for a good portion of it, it looked like he was going to be able to score a victory after what’s been a tough outing so far in the 2023 season.

Matt Malone had other plans. With help from Kirwan, now knowing the limits of the brakes, the two paired up and caught Suzuki not too long afterward.

It became a slugfest from there that eventually brough Tyson “Quirkitized” Meier into the fray.

Malone and Suzuki traded jabs for a few laps before Suzuki wound up falling off the main draft. Quirk took his place and worked to try and pass both Kirwan and Malone.

Using some NASCAR-style racing, with bump drafts and tandems included, the pair stayed ahead.

Into the chicane for the final time, Malone had Kirwan on one side and Quirk on the other. He was able to take the corner and take the win, his first in the series to date.

ALL-STARS: SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS FEATURE RACE TOP 10 RESULTS

FINSTACAR #DRIVERINTERVALFT. PTSTOTAL PTS
1383Matt Malone12 LAPS2529
2595Casey Kirwan+0.313 sec2026
361Quirkitized+0.672 sec1825
4135Dan Suzuki+1.489 sec1416
5723Heikki360ES+3.816 sec1220
614504Pablo López+5.801 sec1038
711182Keny500+6.028 sec923
8237Basic Ollie+12.345 sec811
9839Jardier+15.232 sec716
10981Stradi+21.925 sec616

While Kirwan didn’t win on Saturday, he did extend his points lead, albeit by a single point over Quirk with three races remaining in the season. Emree takes control of the last step of the podium while Jardier slips back to fifth, now also behind the two-time winner Keny500.

López is now up to seventh after missing half the season, only eight points out of the Top 5.

ALL-STARS: POINTS AFTER EVENT #7 – SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

POSCAR #DRIVERSP. WINSFT. WINSTOTAL PTSBEHIND
195Casey Kirwan41276LEADER
21Quirkitized00155-121
351Emree00147-129
4182Keny50002141-135
539Jardier01140-136
6786Dave Cam01136-140
7504The Pulpo López11132-144
723Heikki360ES00132-144
935Dan Suzuki00122-154
1056Borja Zazo00113-163

BICO, CARUSO SCORE SPA WINS

With the All-Stars done and dusted for the day, the attention turned to the Supercup for the World Championship level events. In Practice, Alessandro Bico showcased some immense speed, leading the way in the final shakedown. That speed translated into Qualifying where he scored the pole position.

The rest of the Top 5 included Zac Campbell, Quentiin Vialatte, Lasse Bak and Salva Talens, not your usual Top 5 in this series but a Top 5 full of talent nonetheless.

THE SPRINT RACE

On the start, Campbell was able to best Bico down the Kemmel Straight, but before the second lap was over, the No.77 was back out front. In clean air, Bico was near untouchable, running nearly a second faster pace at times, only pulled back by the drafting effects.

Campbell tried to hang with, but the pace was too fast. The six laps went by fairly quickly, and that Top 5 was full of names that you normally wouldn’t find in this series as per the previous results so far in 2023.

Lasse Bak has shown some potential, but has also had some tough luck. On Saturday, the luck was great as he managed to pass Campbell for the runner-up spot. Vialatte and Luca Kita rounded out the Top 5

As for the invert, that would fall to Sebastian Job, who finished right behind Jordan Caruso. Between those two and the Top 5 was Oskari Rinne, another driver with an impressive outing.

Job held off the charge from Moreno Sirica and his teammate Cooper Webster for the eighth position.

PESC: SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS SPRINT RACE TOP 10 RESULTS

FINSTACAR #DRIVERTEAMINTERVALPTSAGG PTS
1177Alessandro BicoWilliams Esports6 LAPS2535
2424Lasse BakFYRA SimSport-0.765 sec2226
3215Zac CampbellVRS Coanda Esports+1.421 sec2028
4381Quentiin VialatteR8G Esports+1.821 sec1824
5616Luca KitaURANO Esports+2.060 sec1616
675Oskari RinneBS+Competition+2.561 sec1515
7812Jordan CarusoAltus Esports+2.943 sec1414
81022Sebastian JobOracle Red Bull Racing Esports+3.262 sec1313
9969Moreno SiricaWilliams Esports+3.692 sec1212
101637Cooper WebsterOracle Red Bull Racing Esports+4.096 sec1111

THE FEATURE RACE

With Sebastian Job at the front, one would assume that this deal would be over before it began. Jordan Caruso, however, is having an all-time incredible season, and that momentum just can’t be helped sometimes.

Off of the grid start, both Job and Caruso got a monster launch, but into La Source, Caruso pounced at an open opportunity to take the lead. Caruso was able to hold on through Eau Rouge and Raidillon and down the Kemmel Straight, the last real passing opportunity before the end of the lap at the Chicane.

That how the pair would run for the majority of the race as the chaos unfolded behind them.

The chaos seemed to follow the defending series champion Diogo Pinto in the Feature. Pinto missed out on putting a lap down during qualifying. That meant he started dead last in the Sprint and basically gave up a decent finish there to try and get a better starting spot for the feature.

Only working his way to 16th place in the first six lap run, Pinto was looking to get all he could as early as he could, and that resulted in a couple of incidents that would essentially plague his day. One of those incidents wound up including Charlie Collins, one of the other title contenders.

Win or not, Caruso was in a great position to open up his points lead.

On the final lap, Job went for the send into Les Combes. Like Kirwan in the All-Star race, he went for some grass clipping and lost valuable spots. Caruso went on to win, Rinne picked up a second place, Campbell took another third and Job fell back to finish in sixth.

PESC: SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS FEATURE RACE TOP 10 RESULTS

FINSTACAR #DRIVERTEAMINTERVALPTSTOTAL PTS
1212Jordan CarusoAltus Esports12 LAPS5064
235Oskari RinneBS+Competition+0.892 sec4560
3615Zac CampbellVRS Coanda Esports+0.908 sec4068
4416Luca KitaURANO Esports+1.016 sec3753
5724Lasse BakFyra SimSport+1.461 sec3460
6122Sebastian JobOracle Red Bull Racing Esports+1.672 sec3144
7877Alessandro BicoWilliams Esports+3.650 sec2863
81037Cooper WebsterOracle Red Bull Racing Esports+4.142 sec2637
91247Alejandro SánchezStormforce Racing ART+5.415 sec2433
10194Salva TalensStormforce Racing ART+7.567 sec2226

POINTS STANDINGS LEAVING THE DAY AT SPA

With only three races left in the 2023 season, Jordan Caruso is in a league of his own. He leads the points by 86 over Zac Campbell, who, not too long ago, was seemingly out of the conversation after a string of bad finishes that sunk him as low as seventh in the championship.

Now in second, Campbell holds that distinction over Job by nine points, something that was unlikely if the race was one lap shorter. Job wound up losing 14 points by falling from second to sixth, something that also happened to him at Watkins Glen two weeks ago as well.

Pinto and Collins both took huge hits with being non-contenders this week. Pinto falls to fourth, tied with Alejandro Sánchez, while Collins slips to sixth, four points behind Pinto. Unless Caruso has a week where he scores no points, this title looks to be well in hand… but anything can happen with three races left!

PESC: POINTS AFTER EVENT #7 – SPA FRANCORCHAMPS

POSCAR #DRIVERTEAMSP. WINSFT. WINST5sTOTAL PTS
112Jordan CarusoAltus Esports1110412*
215Zac CampbellVRS Coanda Esports128326
322Sebastian JobOracle Red Bull Racing Esports017317*
41Diogo C. PintoTeam Redline117302*
447Alejandro SánchezStormforce Racing ART107302*
693Charlie CollinsVRS Coanda Esports016298
737Cooper WebsterOracle Red Bull Racing Esports003222
877Alessandro BicoWilliams Esports103206*
990Yohann HarthStormforce Racing ART002197*
1069Moreno SiricaWilliams Esports000162*
* = Drivers have been subtracted points by race stewards this season.

UP NEXT: COMBINED CHAOS WITH FULL NURBURGRING

PESC: Sebastian Job, Charlie Collins win eventful Nürburgring races

On paper, a three lap Sprint and a four lap Feature sounds pretty short, but when you consider that the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup is taking on the combined Gesamtstrecke course of the Nürburgring, well, it might be one of the longest Sprint races of the season, to be fair.

The broadcast will be primarily advertised for the Porsche Motorsports social channels, although like eNASCAR, it will also find itself on the iRacing social channels. The broadcast kicks off around 2:00 pm ET / 6:00 pm GMT / 7:00 pm BST for the All-Stars while the World Championship goes off an hour later.

2023 PORSCHE TAG HEUER ESPORTS SUPERCUP SCHEDULE

EVENTDATEVENUESprint LapsFeature Laps
14-FebHockenheimring Baden-Württemberg918
218-FebCircuit de Nevers Magny-Cours1020
34-MarLong Beach – FAN VOTE WINNER1326
418-MarCircuit of the Americas816
51-AprRed Bull Ring1020
68-AprWatkins Glen International1122
722-AprCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps612
86-MayNürburgring Combined34
920-MayCircuit des 24 Heures du Mans36
103-JunAutodromo Nazionale Monza714
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