PESC Season Recap

An incredible season: nothing but great racing

The 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup, powered by iRacing, has come to a close and what a season it was. Filled with highs and lows, bumper-to-bumper racing and a lot of new twists and turns. Once more some of the top Esports racers in the world went head-to-head in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992), this time bringing new tracks to the mix like Daytona, a new Mid-Season Tournament - which featured knockout rounds and a final race that was the first to ever be raced in the rain for the series. A lot of drivers shone week after week, but it was Sebastian Job who took home the title of 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Champion, with 469 points. This is his second Championship, winning the series in 2020. Followed closely behind him was Diogo Pinto (446 points) and Jordan Caruso (332 points), who placed third in the series. With only 38 points between Pinto and Job going into the final Round. They were racing for it all. Two previous Champions, racing for the series. An unbelievable performance in Round 7 and consistency across the season saw Job dominate, each race, coming back stronger whenever there was a setback. When asked how he felt he said, ‘A massive relief, four years since I won it the first time… A lot of hard work, so I massive relief… It’s nice to see all the hard work paying off again’. In the All-Stars series we had some of our most entertaining races. This season saw the Porsche 963 be raced with some of our favourite All-Stars battling for valuable points. In almost every race Casey Kirwan had an incredible performance, racing from the back of the pack to the front on multiple occasions, proving he is the true 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup All-Stars champion back-to-back finishing with 231 points. Pablo López (The Pulpo Lopez ) had an amazing season and finished second (220 points) and Tyson Meier (Quirkitized) finished third (169 points). It all came down to the final round, so let’s take a look back at the season and see how we got to this climatical end.

A Flying Start to the Season

The first three races where filled with exhilarating racing and split-second finishes. Notably starting at the Daytona International Speedway's Road Course, the first American track to feature as well as a rolling start. Sebastian Job already started to show his mettle winning the Main event, but was narrowly out paced by newcomer Luke McKeown in the Sprint. Job also pulled off a perfect score, 85 points at the Hockenheimring, something that hasn’t been done since 2021 by Joshua Rogers, who also went on the claim the Championship. Diogo Pinto also made great headway earning valuable points alongside McKeown. The last race before the Mid-Season Tournament was at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, where Job extended his lead in the Sprint, but couldn’t break through the pack in the Main race, allowing Cooper Webster to win his first career race, followed by Alejandro Sánchez and Chris Lulham. The first three All-Stars races where in the Porsche 963, starting in Daytona where the now two time All-Stars Champion, Casey Kirwan won the Sprint and had an amazing Main race, coming from the back all the way to the front, but couldn’t get past Emily Jones (Emree) on the last turn and finished second. At the Hockenheimring Kirwan dominated the Sprint with Jones now behind him and Pablo López (The Pulpo Lopez) coming in third but things really switched up in the Main race where Oliver Furnell (Basic Ollie) pulled off an impressive win over Tyson Meier (Quirkitized) and Suellio Almeida. At the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans the Sprint race was one to remember where Furnell and López battled it out all the way to the final lap, until Furnell committed to a corner with too much speed and took them both out, allowing Mark Noske (Grizzle) and Jones to slip by. In the Main race Meier ended with a comfortable 5 second lead in what was a chaotic race behind him, the fight for second and third was intense but ultimately Furnell and Lopez claimed the other two podium spots.

The Mid-Season Tournament

It was then on to Watkins Glen for the Mid-Season Tournament which featured knockout rounds. Five heats of 3-laps saw the top two head into the feature race, with one last chance for those who hadn’t qualified yet racing in a 8-lap consolation race. Those who qualified, then raced in the final showdown in the16-lap feature race, battling it out for 85 points. The heats were filled with lots of action and crashes, but it was Luke McKeown, Luca Kita, Cooper Webster, Alejandro Sánchez, Oscar Py, Zac Campbell, Jordan Caruso, Sebastian Job, Mathias StokBæk, Diogo Pinto and Alessandro Bico who secured their seat in the feature race. Next was the consolation race, where the rest of the drivers from the heats would compete for the last 5 seats. With a bumpy start and two early crashes opening up the field, it was Cooper Webster, Matti Sipilä, Oscar Py, Sam Kuitert and Gustavo Ariel who secured the final spots. After a long day, the feature race now had the best of the best competing against one another. The race was so close that for the majority of it, there was only 0.790 seconds between P6 and P1. When the final flag waved our top 3 for the 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Mid-Season Tournament was Sánchez, McKeown and Pinto. In the All-Stars race at Watkins Glen it was Casey Kirwan’s day. In the Sprint, with only two laps left Kirwan saw a gap and pulled ahead into P1 and defended his line, while Ortega took P2 and Daniel Gray took P3. In the Main race, the full field was inverted, meaning Casey would start at the back, but a few incidences sent the field into complete chaos. This allowed Casey Kirwan to skilfully make his way to the front with Christian Ortega (Kenny500) and Javier Soto (Stradi) finishing behind him.

Heading into the Final Showdown

In the closing stages of the 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season, intense competition unfolded across two iconic circuits, the Red Bull Ring and Imola, shaping the championship battle. At the Red Bull Ring, despite Sebastian Job's triumphant Main race victory, his championship lead over Diogo Pinto narrowed to 25 points, thanks to Pinto's consistent runner-up finishes and Job's sixth place in the Sprint race. Alejandro Sánchez clinched the Sprint race, contributing to the drama. The Imola round saw Cooper Webster secure a Main race win, with Sam Kuitert claiming his first career Sprint race victory. This kept the championship tightly contested, leaving Pinto as the only driver mathematically capable of challenging Job, now 38 points behind, as the season approached its climax with only one event remaining. The battles on the track underscored the strategic importance of qualifying positions and the intense rivalry between top drivers, setting the stage for a thrilling championship conclusion. In the All-Stars series, thrilling races unfolded at the Red Bull Ring and Imola, Ayhancan Guven, fresh from his real-world Bathurst 12HR victory, dominated the Red Bull Ring by winning the pole and effortlessly clinching the Sprint race, before skillfully navigating from last to first in the Main race to complete a sensational day sweep. His performance challenged the season's prevailing dominance of Casey Kirwan, while Pablo López (The Pulpo Lopez) and Tyson Meier (Quirkitized) jostled for the runner-up spot, maintaining the tension in the points standings. The excitement continued at Imola, where the series introduced the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). Porsche drivers Laurin Heinrich and Bastian Buus took the lead in the Sprint, with Heinrich securing victory. However, the battle for runner-up saw dramatic contact between Buus and Lopez on the final lap, reshuffling the finishing order. The Feature race witnessed an impressive ascent by Daniel Gray, who claimed his first All-Stars victory amidst a challenging field. López managed to close the gap on points leader Casey Kirwan to just 15 points as they headed into the Monza finale, setting the stage for a gripping conclusion to the 2024 season.

Two Main Events. One Champion.

The Championship all came down to this, the last two races in Monza. Instead of a sprint and a main race, there were two main races with a maximum of 110 points up for grabs. Sebastian Job had a strong lead going into the weekend, but anything could happen and leave the door open for Diogo Pinto. The first race had a great start with Chris Lulham, Jordan Caruso and Alejandro Sánchez leading, but all eyes were on P7 and P8, where Job was just in front of Pinto. On the second lap Caruso made a clean overtake down the starting straight and kept the lead for the entire race. Going into the final lap Lulham did try and get past him but couldn’t break through. He tried again on the last turn but finished just 0.051 seconds behind Caruso, with Sánchez coming in third. There was no positions gained between Job and Pinto, so it would all come down to the final race. Pinto had a great start leading the race and putting a little bit of a gap between him and Job who was battling it out for second with Alessandro Bico in the opening stages of the race. Caruso, the last race winner made contact with another car and spun out, unfortunately putting him at the back of the pack. Halfway through, Bico was comfortably in second until Sánchez made an impressive move to get past Job and then another to get ahead of Bico. As we headed into the closing stage of the race the starting straight became crucial as the order at the front kept changing, a few risky moves saw Sánchez lose his positions gained and allowed Cooper Webster and Chris Lulham to make their way to the front. While Job kept slowly losing positions, trying to not incur penalties. The last lap was filled with tension as no one wanted to give an inch, but when the chequered flag waved it was Pinto who won with only a 0.017 second lead, with Webster behind him and Lulham in third. Job did enough to end in P7 and secure his second Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Championship. He is the second person to do so, alongside Joshua Rogers. In the All-Stars it was down to Casey Kirwan and Pablo López (The Pulpo Lopez) for the Championship, with just 15 points between them. First was the sprint race, which was also the first to ever be held in the rain for the series. The race had a clean start in the front with López leading and Tyson Meier (Quirkitized) and Kirwan following. After two laps Meier suffered a slowdown penalty and moved into fourth, allowing Emily Jones (Emree) into third, which is where she finished. On the final lap Kirwan tried to take on López on the outside, but he managed to defend his line well and kept P1. Now there was just 8 points between them. It would all come down to the final main race. The grid was now inverted with the top three starting at the back, so it was all about how far Kirwan and López could climb through the pack. Oliver Furnell (Basic Ollie), Dan Suzuki and Borja Zazo lead the race at the start. Around the mid-way point there was no change to the front, but Kirwan had manged to make his way into eighth with López right behind him in ninth. At the end Furnell had a comfortable lead, crossing the finish line. Next was Dan Suzuki and Matt Malone, who had a great race to finish in third. Kirwan impressively finished in fourth, ahead of López who finished sixth. The two gave it their all in both the sprint and main race, but Kirwan was the one who came out on top with his second straight Championship.

Main Series Driver Standings