Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team retains Rennsport R1 title in thrilling Fall Season

The team competed in four online rounds in September, finishing second in the points standings, before heading to SimRacing Expo in Frankfurt for an in-person final showdown in October.

Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team fielded Charlie Collins and Joshua Rogers as its main drivers, with Dayne Warren joining for select online races.

At the final, Collins and Rogers had a brilliant start, with Rogers winning Race 1 at Monza before the pair locked out a 1-2 in qualifying for Race 2 at Spa.

The team finished that race in the same positions, before another stunning race at Daytona put them into the crucial Finalist Mode, ready to claim the crown.

The day’s second visit to Monza saw Collins fend off the competition to win the race, and the team retained its title.

The Online Rounds

This season, the R1 competition moved away from the previous GT3 grid, with drivers instead racing the available Rennsport roster of Hypercars.

The Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team raced with the Porsche 963, used in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTP class.

As in the Spring Season, each round consisted of four 15-minute races, with the grid set by a one-lap qualifier.

Each of the 12 teams competes in two of them, and the teams are shuffled into different groups for each round.

Round 1, on September 1, took in Spa and Road Atlanta, with Rogers and Warren representing the team.

Though Rogers kicked off the season in style with a pole position at Spa, it was a tough race, with the pair finishing in sixth and seventh.

Road Atlanta was a similarly tough affair, and the pair ended Round 1 eighth in the standings with 32 points.

Round 2, however, saw the team bounce back, with a 1-2 at Le Mans in Race 1 from Collins upon his return and Rogers.

The Laguna Seca race brought more difficulties, with a Turn 1 crash on lap one stalling progress.

Collins took another victory next time out at Daytona, with a 1-3 following at Sebring, before claiming another victory at Monza in the opening race of Round 4.

The team headed to the online finals just three points shy of TC Esports.

Speaking after the season finale, Collins said: “I knew we were a bit behind on points compared to TC Esports.

"I knew the points would play a part in the finals, but I felt like we got through the rocky start of the season.

“We felt like if we could execute what we knew we were capable of at the end of the season, I thought the finals would go pretty well.”

The Final: SimRacing Expo

This season’s final took place at the industry’s biggest sim racing event, SimRacing Expo in Frankfurt, on October 18.

Collins said racing in front of a crowd is “pretty awesome, and it's something that I really don't want to take for granted because it's not every day we get to do this and do not only our job, but our passion in front of other people find it interesting.

“It’s such a blessing, it’s pretty special. I think another interesting thing about it is also you get to see the other competitors in person.

“You can get to see other people's races just from their body language, which is something we don't really get to do online.”

The competition kicked off at Monza, with Rogers taking the win to put the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team six points clear after Race 1.

“Josh executed a really good race,” Collins said. “I had a bit of a messy one for myself, but Josh executed a really good result and just a clean result and exactly what we needed as a team.

“We both felt quite comfortable in the rig and the situation. That’s the biggest thing, when you go to a rig that you don't really know, you haven't been practicing on, it’s all new.

“Even if the race result isn't good, a really important thing is just to feel comfortable because you know going forward it will come to you.”

For Race 2 at Spa, the pair locked out the front row, and fought off their competitors to finish in the same order with Rogers winning, putting them just three points off the all-important Finalist Mode.

They followed it up with another great race at Daytona, with Collins taking pole and a victory.

Collins said: “It was awesome. I had competed at the Esports World Cup in 2024 and 2025, but these are actually my first two wins in a LAN (Local Area Network), in-person environment.

“I'd gotten some a few podiums before, but it was a really cool feeling to be able to win in front of other people, and so those races were for me quite enjoyable and just pretty awesome to experience that.”

The pair sealed the title at Monza in a “chaotic” race.

Another pole from Collins put the team in a prime position, but an incident at Turn 1 dropped Rogers out of contention, with three drivers including his team-mate in the pack out front.

But late drama almost changed the game. Collins said: “With two laps to go, I just made a mistake coming into Turn 1 and lost a bunch of time.

“The guy in P2 who needed to win to keep the competition going was right behind me, and we went side by side in the second chicane at Monza, and there was just a bit of contact, and his car got spun around a little bit.

‘Everyone expected a win, and then out of nowhere it all changed very quickly. But after that, I just tried to keep my head in the game and managed to get it done.”

He added: “It was a really nice way to end this Rennsport year with these three events that we've had this year.

“I think it was just quite satisfying, and I was proud of the effort we've been able to put in, despite a lot of other time commitments.”

Reflecting on the Fall Season as a whole, Collins said: “As a team, we're quite well integrated working with each other.

“It's been a few years now we've been working together, especially in person as well. So on that side of things, I wouldn't say it was anything different from normal.

“Again, it was just a pleasure working with Josh and Dayne. I think these are two of the best guys in the world.

“With this sort of stuff, I think as a team we work well together, talking about new ideas or whatever it may be.

“As for the actual sim itself, with Rennsport, we knew what to expect because we'd driven earlier in the year with the same car in the same format. So it was just a case of getting back up to speed to where we were before.”

Though the Rennsport R1 Fall Season might be over, there is plenty more thrilling Esports action to come in 2026.

Follow along with the Porsche Esports Supercup championship on our series page here.