PESC: Zac Campbell, Charlie Collins score double victory for Coanda at Magny-Cours

The second round of iRacing‘s Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup series took to the newly-added venue of Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours on Saturday (18th February) as a pair of VRS Coanda Esports drivers scored the Sprint and Feature wins.

Magny-Cours, a 4.411-kilometer (2.741-miles) venue in France with 17 corners would play host to the top level iRacing esports series. In the PESC Sprint, it was Zac Campbell while in the Feature, it would be Charlie Collins. In the All-Stars races prior, Laurin Heinrich and Casey Kirwan were the victors.

ALL-STARS FEATURES SPECIAL GUEST WINNER LAURIN HEINRICH

Whenever the 2022 Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich joins the field, you know that he’s going to be a threat for both the Sprint and Feature race victories. Sure enough, Heinrich joined the All-Stars cast on Saturday together with Laurins Vanthoor, a Porsche factory driver over in the IMSA field.

Heinrich took the pole position for the Sprint Race and absolutely walloped the field, winning by over three seconds over the 2022 eNASCAR Champion Casey Kirwan. PESC All-Star champions Emree and Quirkitized finished third and fourth, respectively while Borja Zazo rounded out the Top 5.

For Vanthoor, it was not the best introduction to the series as he wound up finishing second to last. Tony Kanaan, an IndyCar and Indianapolis 500 champion as well as one of sim racing’s biggest ambassadors, wound up finishing last after a jump start penalty, but he would start first in the Feature after the invert.

ALL-STARS: MAGNY-COURS SPRINT RACE TOP 10 RESULTS

FIN	STA	CAR #	DRIVER	INTERVAL	SPRINT PTS	AGG PTS
1	1	911	Laurin Heinrich	11 LAPS	25	28
2	2	95	Casey Kirwan	+3.297 sec	21	21
3	3	51	Emree	+7.794 sec	17	17
4	6	1	Quirkitized	+13.373 sec	14	14
5	4	56	Borja Zazo	+15.288 sec	12	12
6	8	35	Dan Suzuki	+16.358 sec	10	10
7	14	39	Jardier	+18.014 sec	9	9
8	5	23	Heikki360ES	+18.687 sec	8	8
9	9	46	LoveFortySix	+20.330 sec	7	7
10	10	182	Keny500	+21.196 sec	6	6

With Heinrich back in the last position for the feature, chaos rang supreme as he was involved in a Lap 1 incident, ruining he chances as a double victory. Kirwan, on the other hand, was ready to take advantage.

Kanaan led the majority of the first half of the race, but it didn’t take eight laps for Kirwan to be right on his bumper from the 14th starting spot for the lead of the race. Kanaan yielded and fell back into the clutches of Basic Ollie and more for the battle for second.

On the final lap, TK tried to send it in on a pack of cars and wound up decimating Stradi in the process. This allowed Jardier to capitalize for the second week in a row to take a third place finish. Kirwan was the easy winner by 12 seconds over Basic Ollie. Heikki360ES and Quirkitized rounded out the Top 5.

ALL-STARS: MAGNY-COURS FEATURE RACE TOP 10 RESULTS

FIN	STA	CAR #	DRIVER	INTERVAL	FEAT. PTS	TOTAL PTS
1	14	95	Casey Kirwan	17 LAPS	25	46
2	4	37	Basic Ollie	+12.632 sec	20	24
3	9	39	Jardier	+15.745 sec	17	26
4	8	23	Heikki360ES	+16.391 sec	14	22
5	12	1	Quirkitized	+17.031 sec	12	26
6	3	81	Stradi	+19.912 sec	10	13
7	1	6	Tony Kanaan	+21.432 sec	9	10
8	11	56	Borja Zazo	+22.752 sec	8	20
9	13	51	Emree	+23.958 sec	7	24
10	7	46	LoveFortySix	+25.689 sec	6	13

Last season, Kirwan ran a half schedule, winning often when he would show up, ultimately finishing fourth in the points standings on fewer starts. This year, if he continues to run the full schedule, he may wrap things up by the middle of the season.

Jardier currently sits in second, 36 points behind Kirwan, while Basic Ollie is down in third. Former champions of the All-Stars series Emree and Quirkitized are tied at 45 points a piece in fourth.

Even with just one start and a poor Feature finish, Heinrich sits 10th in the points, just ahead of LoveFortySix in 11th. Our friend Dave Cam isn’t fairing too well to start the season, as he’s currently sitting 13th in the points out of 16 entrants so far.

ALL-STARS: POINTS STANDINGS AFTER EVENT #2 – MAGNY COURS

POS	CAR #	DRIVER	SP. WINS	FT. WINS	TOP 5s	TOTAL PTS
1	95	Casey Kirwan	1	1	4	89
2	39	Jardier	0	1	2	53
3	37	Basic Ollie	0	0	2	47
4	51	Emree	0	0	2	45
4	1	Quirkitized	0	0	2	45
6	56	Borja Zazo	0	0	2	41
7	23	Heikki360ES	0	0	2	40
8	06	Tony Kanaan	0	0	1	39
9	81	Stradi	0	0	1	34
10	911	Laurin Heinrich	1	0	1	32

COANDA CONQUERS MAGNY-COURS

The main event at Magny-Cours would feature a dominant showing from the VRS Coanda stable, but when the points were tallied following the Feature, Team Redline’s Diogo Pinto would find his place back at the top of the points standings once more.

Qualifying saw Zac Campbell take the top spot barely over Sebastian Job. Pinto, Cooper Webster and series rookie Oscar Mangan rounded out the Top 5. As per usual, the Top 5 qualifiers would all receive some nomination of points before the Sprint race, 10 to the pole sitter and only two to fifth.

After the Sprint, the Top 8 finishers invert and the point payouts are doubled. A maximum of 85 points can be scored on any given race night.

THE SPRINT RACE

Campbell led the field down and away through the opening corners of the new-to-PESC circuit. The opening lap would prove to be a tough go for some hopefuls, including MOUZ driver Maximilian Benecke, Stormforce Racing ART’s Salva Talens, and a pair of FYRA Simsport hopefuls as well.

Meanwhile up front, Job managed to earn a slow down on the final chicane, losing two spots in the process. His Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports teammate Cooper Webster was now up at the plate, and hungry to score a win over the already victorious Campbell.

Webster kept things honest, but never could get alongside the VRS Coanda contender in Campbell. After 10 laps, Campbell was the winner as Charlie Collins would score eighth to grab the Feature pole position.

PESC: MAGNY-COURS SPRINT RACE TOP 10 RESULTS

FIN	STA	CAR #	DRIVER	TEAM	INTERVAL	PTS	AGG PTS
1	1	15	Zac Campbell	VRS Coanda Esports	10 LAPS	25	35
2	4	37	Cooper Webster	Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports	+0.474 sec	22	26
3	3	1	Diogo C. Pinto	Team Redline	+1.242 sec	20	26
4	2	22	Sebastian Job	Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports	+1.678 sec	18	26
5	5	99	Oscar Mangan	Altus Esports	+2.139 sec	16	18
6	6	12	Jordan Caruso	Altus Esports	+2.830 sec	15	15
7	7	97	Tuomas Tähtelä	HEROIC	+3.291 sec	14	14
8	8	93	Charlie Collins	VRS Coanda Esports	+3.776 sec	13	13
9	19	47	Alejandro Sánchez	Stormforce Racing ART	+6.959 sec	12	12
10	13	46	Bryn Collins	VRS Coanda Esports	+7.399 sec	11	11

THE FEATURE RACE

In the main event, Collins would be too strong once out in the clean air. Quicker drivers like Campbell, Pinto, Job and Webster had to fight their way through drivers that finished behind them in the Sprint, guys like Heroic’s Tuomas Tähtelä and the Altus pair of Mangan and Jordan Caruso.

Campbell wouldn’t be so lucky, getting caught up in a mess in the hairpin that required repairs to his Porsche GT3 Cup 992. Pinto, Job and Webster would keep fighting, but by the time they sorted things out, Collins was long gone.

On the final lap, Pinto made a dive on Job for the second spot. There was contact, but Pinto was able to nudge ahead while Job recovered to finish fourth. Caruso split the pair to finish in third and Webster managed another Top 5 finish.

PESC: MAGNY-COURS FEATURE RACE TOP 10 RESULTS

FIN	STA	CAR #	DRIVER	TEAM	INTERVAL	PTS	TTL PTS
1	1	93	Charlie Collins	VRS Coanda Esports	20 LAPS	50	63
2	6	1	Diogo C. Pinto	Team Redline	-6.604	45	71
3	3	12	Jordan Caruso	Altus Esports	-7.081	40	55
4	5	22	Sebastian Job	Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports	-7.503	37	63
5	7	37	Cooper Webster	Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports	-7.847	34	60
6	2	97	Tuomas Tähtelä	HEROIC	-8.527	31	45
7	4	99	Oscar Mangan	Altus Esports	-8.826	28	46
8	9	47	Alejandro Sánchez	Stormforce Racing ART	-9.239	26	38
9	20	69	Moreno Sirica	Williams Esports	-13.587	24	25
10	22	16	Luca Kita	URANO Esports	-16.663	22	22

POINTS STANDINGS LEAVING MAGNY-COURS

As mentioned, Pinto moves back up to the top spot, a place he found to be familiar in his 2022 championship winning season. He holds only a two point cushion over Collins. Sophomore contender Caruso sits in third at 122 points, 16 behind the lead.

Both Campbell and Job have shown to be a top competitor this season, but luck hasn’t been on their side fully so far. A bad Feature at Hockenheim cost Job valuable points as he sits fifth after two races. As for Campbell, he also had a bad Feature this week, and now sits 38 points behind in fourth.

POS	CAR #	DRIVER	TEAM	SP. WINS	FT. WINS	T5s	TOTAL PTS
1	1	Diogo C. Pinto	Team Redline	1	0	4	138
2	93	Charlie Collins	VRS Coanda Esports	0	1	3	136
3	12	Jordan Caruso	Altus Esports	0	0	3	122
4	15	Zac Campbell	VRS Coanda Esports	1	1	2	100
5	22	Sebastian Job	Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports	0	0	3	82*
6	37	Cooper Webster	Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports	0	0	2	71
7	77	Alessandro Bico	Williams Esports	0	0	1	65
8	99	Oscar Mangan (R)	Altus Esports	0	0	1	62
9	47	Alejandro Sánchez	Stormforce Racing ART	0	0	1	54**
10	11	Maximilian Benecke	MOUZ	0	0	0	53

UP NEXT: LONG BEACH?!?

The fans voted and picked Long Beach to be the winning venue for the third race of the season. Long Beach was more popular on the social media vote over Laguna Seca and Imola. Sprint and Feature lengths are to be determined.

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 is set to kick off around 1:00 pm ET / 6:00 pm GMT for the PESC All-Stars, while the PESC World Championship goes off an hour later.

2023 PORSCHE TAG HEUER ESPORTS SUPERCUP SCHEDULE

EVENT	DATE	VENUE	Sprint Laps	Feature Laps
1	4-Feb	Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg	9	18
2	18-Feb	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours	10	20
3	4-Mar	Long Beach – FAN VOTE WINNER	TBD	TBD
4	18-Mar	Circuit of the Americas	8	16
5	1-Apr	Red Bull Ring	10	20
6	8-Apr	Watkins Glen International	11	22
7	22-Apr	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	6	12
8	6-May	Nürburgring Combined	3	4
9	20-May	Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans	3	6
10	3-Jun	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	7	14