2020’s forty-strong grid also features Formula One royalty
After two and a half months, the qualification process for the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup has come to an end. A strong line-up of forty sim racers from fourteen countries makes up the grid, which includes Formula Once ace, Max Verstappen. The 22-year-old is one of twenty drivers to secure a spot via the Porsche iRacing Cup qualification procedure. The other half of the grid consists of the top twenty competitors from the 2019 season. Last year’s champion, Joshua Rogers from Australia, is another of the ‘ones to watch out for’ when the new season of the digital racing series takes off on 2nd May at the virtual Circuit Zandvoort, located on the Dutch North Sea coast. For 2020, participating drivers will compete for a prize fund of $200,000. As a platform for all ten events, the Esports Supercup once again counts on iRacing, the premier online racing simulation platform.
“Last year we added sim racing to our motorsport family,” says Marco Ujhasi, Esports Manager at Porsche Motorsport. “We’ve set ourselves the goal of professionalising virtual motor racing and developing it into an exciting spectator sport. Due to the current halt on real-world racing, we’re attracting a huge following. After all, the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup, featuring the world’s best sim racers, offers authentic, entertaining racing at the highest sporting level, which is precisely what Porsche motorsport fans want,” he added.
Over five thousand participants took part in the qualifying races for the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup. Joining Verstappen (Team Redline) and Rogers (VRS Coanda Simsport) on the grid is 25-year-old Maximilian Benecke (Team Redline) and plucky Brit, Sebastian Job (Red Bull Racing Esports Team), who fans of the series will know from their second and third place finishes in the 2019 season.
Ten events make up the 2020 calendar of the world championship series. Each race day consists of five sessions. A free practice (twenty minutes) is followed by a twelve-minute qualifying session (run as an individual time trial), a sprint race over fifteen minutes, a warm-up (ten minutes) and the thirty-minute main race. Drivers earn points towards the championship from both races. Victory in the sprint event is rewarded with twenty-five points, with the winner of the main event receiving double points. The top five qualifiers also receive additional points. The pole-sitter earns ten points for the overall classification. Virtual representations of Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Circuit de la Sarthe, Nürburgring Nordschliefe, Silverstone, Road Atlanta, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and Autodromo Nazionale Monza will all feature in 2020, the season ending in September. Visit motorsports.porsche.com.
