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 |
| 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 |
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