Team Redline won the Esports World Cup Teams Championship in the shortest ESL R1 Finals Day, just five races long. Redline’s points advantage over second was also the biggest ever seen, starting the day 28 points ahead of Team Vitality, who would finish second.
It all started on Friday after Kevin Siggy had won the Drivers’ Championship the day before. Four teams would immediately lock themselves into Sunday’s final, with the next six put into Saturday’s Last Chance Qualifier, and the bottom two going home.
Unsurprisingly, Team Redline had a relatively uneventful day, winning three races and scoring 49 more points than any other team, giving them the early advantage on Sunday.
Team Vitality was in danger of the bottom two after their first round of races, largely because Erhan Jajovski and Thibault Cazaubon got caught up in a pileup at Jeddah when Max Benecke, James Baldwin, Ulas Ozyildirim and Daire McCormack came together. But wins for Marcell Csincsik and Jiri Toman in races seven and eight secured them second place.
Reigning champions Porsche Coanda Esports were in doubt for some time but eventually made it into the top four. But the day’s surprise would come from Guild Esports, making the top four after struggling at times in the Regular Season.
It would come down to the final race, as James Baldwin overtook Max Benecke for second in Race 8 at Spa, with the four points he gained enough to see Guild into the Final by just three points ahead of Williams Esports, who would compete in Friday’s Last Chance Qualifier.
Williams and Mouz clinch last-chance places on Day 3
Two groups of three were in play through the third day but the races lacked an exciting denoument. Williams Esports effectively locked their place in the Final in Race 1, dominating the race at Fuji by finishing 1-2-3-4. There was little Team Falcons or G2 Esports could do after that, and they would pick up $11,000 and $7,000 respectively after being knocked out.
The second race was more open, with BS+ Competition, Apex Racing Team and Mouz all seeing this as their chance to progress to the final. In the opening race at Spa, Max Benecke took pole but Kevin Ellis Jr overtook him and eventually won after contact between Benecke and Ellis Jr’s teammate Yohann Harth created a sufficient gap.
After that, Benecke’s domination really began. He took all remaining pole positions and the final three wins. After a strong Mouz showing at Hockenheim in Race 2, ART and Mouz were neck and neck until a big crash at the start of Race 3 at Monza took ART out of contention.
Caique Oliveira made slight contact with Kevin Ellis Jr, who spun along with Harth. ART’s other drivers, Jamie Fluke and Jimmy Antunes, were also held up. Eventually, Mouz would complete the Finals Day lineup of six teams.
Finals Day was an exhibition in driving from Team Redline. A 28-point lead coming in helped, but after just five races and a title win, they were 150 points ahead of the competition. They achieved Finalist Mode after four races, and with a race at the always-unpredictable Monza they knew anything could happen.
Sebastian Job and Jeffrey Rietveld qualified second and third, giving them a shot immediately at the title. Early on in the race, it was clear Redline would allow Job and polesitter Max Benecke to go clear, with Rietveld defending third, to fight for the all-important win.
It was a race of strategy, as both drivers realised it would come down to a fight on the last lap. Benecke moved his BMW to the inside to defend, but Job’s speed was overpowering, allowing him to go through into the first chicane. From there, his exit speed was too good and Job would put his Finalist Mode woes from Thursday behind him to give Team Redline the World Cup.
An interesting subplot from that final race was Mouz who, under normal circumstances, would be desperate to beat Team Redline to the line in Race 5 to extend proceedings. However, since the team had just leapfrogged Williams Esports and Porsche Coanda Esports for third, were less motivated to extend the championship to another race. Instead, they’d banked a solid third place, by far the biggest gain of any team from their starting position.
In between the two were Team Vitality, who had a largely quiet day outside of a pole and a win for Marcell Csincsik – just his second of 2024 – in Race 3 to make their second position far more secure.
Just off the podium, Williams Esports overtook Porsche Coanda Esports for fourth during the final race. An eighth and 10th placed finish was surprisingly enough for Williams after Coanda’s penalties were added to the total, representing a largely miserable week for Porsche teams that contained just one race win.
Bringing up the rear was Guild Esports, which was the surprise package of Day 2. Bizarrely, Guild may have been disadvantaged by this as their drivers had driven just two races prior to the Team Final. Their final total of 77 points was 28 points behind anyone else, but still enough for $18,000.
And with that, the Esports World Cup comes to an end. The racing on-circuit was electrifying at times, as LAN events once again proved themselves to be an excellent spectacle.
However, this wasn’t an event with unpredictable outcomes. Team Redline came best prepared and they executed their plans perfectly. It’s the first time the Drivers’ and Teams’ season champions have come from the same team in ESL R1’s history and in the end, only Redline could have done this.
Featured image courtesy of Team Redline
All other images courtesy of Ewan O’Leary
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