Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup: Lebigre and Webster win Daytona photo finishes

Red Bull Racing Esports driver Cooper Webster has taken the points lead away
from the first round of the 2025 iRacing Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup,
after a crucial race two victory over Elvis Rankin.

It came after the American of Team Indian Racing Festival led the first 15 of 16 laps, defending solidly from the front, but was unable to overcome the slipstreaming advantage Webster gained from placing himself second for the final lap.

Race 1

The format for PESC remained the same in 2025. Two races, one twice as long
as the other, with the top eight inverted for that longer second race, and no
pitstop strategy. It was the ultimate test of pure racecraft again.

Unfortunately, the driver who prevailed in this ultimate test in 2024, Sebastian Job, got his season off to a rocky start. He was sandwiched in a four-wide moment at Daytona’s International Horseshoe and ended up spinning to the back. He would finish just 27th.

Meanwhile, upfront, the battle to take his crown was underway pretty quickly. Frenchman Florian Lebigre, who was new to the series in 2025, took the first
pole and held the lead on the start from defacto teammates Chris Lulham and Webster, which the others filed in behind.

The teamwork was effective, and despite there being a 12-car leading train led by Lebigre, and a relatively big fight for eighth, none of the other teams could work a move for the win. The three teammates would share the podium after a quiet first race.

Race 2

Job was the only driver to spin on lap one of race one, but the clean start
couldn’t be repeated a second time. Too many drivers squeezing into too small
of a space led to Sam Kuitert, Luka Kita, Daniel Pasztor and Carlos Fenollosa spinning around at the first turn.

Up front, Elvis Rankin started well from pole and worked with teammate Mitchell DeJong to run one-two for the first half of the race. That was until Luke McKeown barged the Rallycross champ DeJong out of the way in an aggressive move for second, breaking up the cooperation.

That led to a free-for-all up front, with McKeown amongst those many drivers
trying to snatch the lead from the American. Rankin would lead 15 of the 16 laps, but leading out of the bus stop on the run to the line doesn’t often
result in victory.

Webster, who was running in second, held back through the banked final turns, before accelerating again on the outside line to take the photo finish by just 0.016 seconds.

Earlier in the race, Lebigre had a half spin through the West Horseshoe, sending him back in the pack and eventually finishing in seventh. This meant
Webster was able to take the early championship lead by 15 points as the only
driver on the podium twice at Daytona.

He will look to defend and perhaps extend that lead this weekend, as the PESC’s season-opening triple header rolls into the hills of Tuscany, and Mugello.