Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series intensifies after three rounds

Tristan Iglesias and Michael Janney are on equal points, leading the championship charge with 151 points each, while three other Coanda Esports Racing Team drivers complete the top five.

Over 30 top Esports drivers are vying for a spot in one of iRacing’s premier championships.

In order to qualify for next year’s Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup, they have to finish in the top 15 of the drivers’ championship at the end of the six-round long Contender Series.

Rounds 1 and 2: Algarve International Circuit and Okayama International Circuit

The Coanda Esports Racing Team had a domineering start to the series, as their drivers locked out the first five grid slots at the opening sprint race in Algarve.

Two-time Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup champion Joshua Rogers is among those fighting to earn a place back in the main series after he was absent from the previous season.

He asserted his position as the favourite to win the championship, taking pole position by a margin of 0.348 seconds, and running a lights-to-flag victory in the sprint race.

Iglesias, Janney, Dayne Warren and Mitchell deJong completed the top five.

The top eight were reversed for the start of the main race which shook up the front of the pack.

Elvis Rankin, also a member of the Coanda Esports Racing Team, started from second place, but got a better launch off the grid to pass Carlos Fenollosa of Drago Racing into Turn 1 and take the lead.

From then on, the positions remained mostly unchanged as Rankin, who has never competed in the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup before, went on to take the chequered flag and secure the championship lead.

He was three points ahead of Rogers, who both started and finished the main race in eighth.

It was a much more action packed second round at a rainy Okayama, with the damp conditions proving to be difficult for the drivers to adapt to, as lock-ups and crashes were aplenty.

Points leader Rankin extended his advantage at the top with a pole position and sprint race victory, but he finished 14th after a difficult and incident-filled main race.

Rogers was able to stay out of trouble in the 20-lap long race and he climbed his way up from 27th to 12th place, while deJong capitalised on the challenges of the other frontrunners to end the second round as the new championship points leader, having finished second and third in the sprint and main races respectively.

The American was 12 points clear of both Rankin and Iglesias in joint second whilst Rogers was down in eighth with a 46 point deficit.

Round 3: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

The most recent round of the Porsche Esports Supercup Contender Series was run at Laguna Seca - and without points leader deJong, as he was busy with his Nitrocross commitments.

A tough qualifying for Rogers and Rankin saw the pair start the sprint in 16th and 26th respectively, with some new names attempting to stake their claim for the drivers’ title.

Team Redline’s Florian Lebigre took victory, with Coanda Esports Racing Team drivers Janney and Iglesias rounding out the podium places.

Despite the lack of movement at the front of the field, Rogers did a superb job of making up ground in the ten-lap sprint, averaging almost one overtake per lap as he finished in seventh place. With the reversed grid, that became a front-row starting position for the main race.

A late braking move on the inside of the final corner on lap one gave Rogers the race lead, and he was able to extend a 5.5-second gap to runner-up Beckham Jacir of Williams Esports. Janney followed up his second place finish in the sprint with sixth in the main race.

At the start of lap 16 it was Iglesias who was running in sixth, but a small mistake saw him run wide at Turn 5, leading to him dropping nine positions to his finishing spot of 15th.

Despite that mistake, a strong record throughout the Contender Series - including two podium finishes and placing inside the top six for all but the most recent race - means Iglesias is in joint first place in the championship on 151 points with Janney.

Lebigre sits in third, a mere four points off the top, while Rogers is fourth, eight points behind. DeJong still sits fifth in the points standings, only 26 behind the leaders.

The three remaining rounds of the championship take place over the next three weeks, with Circuit Zolder hosting the fourth round on October 12.

Two of the three races, with the exception of Circuit Zolder, will be streamed on the Porsche Twitch channel, and you can already add a reminder to your calendar for the races via Twitch.