For the second time in the 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season, Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing’s Cooper Webster is a Feature race winner.
The sixth event of the year took the 30 of the best sports car sim racers in the world to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, better known as Imola, for the penultimate battle of the championship. Following the Sprint invert, Webster led from the drop of the flag, holding off Team Redline’s Gustavo Ariel for the victory. Team Redline scored the Sprint win via Sam Kuitert, who scored his first career TAG Heuer Pole Award and victory in the opening race of the afternoon.
Imola marks Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing’s seventh combined victory on the year, as Sebastian Job holds five wins, as well as the points lead, with only one event remaining on the calendar. Team Redline’s Diogo Pinto is the only other driver still mathematically in contention for the championship, 38 points behind Job.
SPRINT RACE: By virtue of Kuitert’s first TAG Heuer Pole Award at Imola, Sebastian Job was crowned the 2024 TAG Heuer Pole Award champion having already scored three poles in the opening three rounds. Job started second while Pinto rounded out the top three.
Imola hasn’t seen a PESC schedule since 2021, so naturally, the opening laps of the Sprint were filled with contact. The top drivers all solved themselves into order, but outside the top 10, drivers clawed for spots, often resulting in scrapes and broken parts.
Kuitert led the way from the drop of the green. Job kept close, as did Pinto, but Kuitert held on for his first career victory. In the battle for the invert, Webster held off Yohann Harth.
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Sprint top 10 results from Imola were as follows:
Sam Kuitert
Sebastian Job
Diogo C. Pinto
Chris Lulham
Jordan Caruso
Alessandro Bico
Gustavo Ariel
Cooper Webster
Yohann Harth
Alejandro Sánchez
FEATURE RACE: The Feature race started much calmer than the Sprint. VRS Coanda’s Zac Campbell was dinged with a jump start, ruining his chances at a decent points day. Webster led the way, while the leaders from the Sprint began to work through the traffic.
Kuitert and Pinto seemed stuck where they started, but Job was on a mission for spots. Job leapfrogged Pinto on the opening lap to take sixth. A few laps later, a struggling Alessandro Bico fell into his clutches, elevating Job to fifth. Both Pinto and Kuitert, as well as Alejandro Sánchez, were able to pass the Williams Esports driver, who ultimately finished ninth after starting in third, but that would be it for all three of them.
Next for Job, he passed Chris Lulham for fourth. A lap later, Altus Esports’ Jordan Caruso slipped in a chicane to allow Job to take third. For a time, he was right there, shadowing Webster and Ariel for the top spot. In an instant, Webster metaphorically kicked on the afterburners and drove away to claim the win. Ariel held on for second while Job settled for third.
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup results from Imola were as follows:
Fin.
St.
No.
Driver
Laps
Interval
Led
Best
Pts.
1
1
37
Cooper Webster
16
0.000
16
1:42.178
63
2
2
12
Gustavo Ariel
16
-1.470
0
1:42.038
59
3
7
22
Sebastian Job
16
-1.610
0
1:41.708
70
4
5
20
Chris Lulham
16
-6.181
0
1:42.112
57
5
4
1
Jordan Caruso
16
-6.602
0
1:42.451
50
6
6
44
Diogo C. Pinto
16
-6.982
0
1:42.611
57
7
8
28
Sam Kuitert
16
-7.236
0
1:42.063
63
8
10
47
Alejandro Sánchez
16
-7.754
0
1:41.906
37
9
3
77
Alessandro Bico
16
-9.093
0
1:42.045
39
10
9
90
Yohann Harth
16
-11.371
0
1:42.386
38
11
11
13
Dino Lombardi
16
-12.567
0
1:42.320
30
12
13
96
Luke McKeown
16
-13.086
0
1:42.459
26
13
15
3
Kevin Nielsen
16
-16.606
0
1:42.557
22
14
17
57
Mathias Stokbæk Jensen
16
-19.591
0
1:42.585
18
15
19
4
Salva Talens
16
-19.672
0
1:42.655
14
16
22
5
Oskari Rinne
16
-21.541
0
1:42.109
10
17
21
43
Josh Thompson
16
-22.001
0
1:42.788
9
18
18
92
Michael Janney
16
-27.340
0
1:43.048
11
19
16
24
Lasse Bak
16
-27.881
0
1:42.948
12
20
26
16
Luca Kita
16
-28.242
0
1:42.727
6
21
27
69
Moreno Sirica
16
-28.458
0
1:42.606
5
22
24
40
Julien Soenen
16
-29.032
0
1:42.970
4
23
14
29
Jakub Maciejewski
16
-30.612
0
1:43.023
10
24
20
54
Oscar Py
16
-33.934
0
1:42.991
3
25
29
11
Matti Sipilä
16
-34.294
0
1:43.143
1
26
23
27
Simone Maria Marcenò
16
-37.498
0
1:43.116
0
27
25
95
Parker White
16
-37.638
0
1:43.160
0
28
12
15
Zac Campbell
16
-49.534
0
1:43.170
9
29
28
8
Bryn Collins
1
DNF
0
———
0
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup points through Round 6 are as follows:
Sebastian Job, 413
Diogo C. Pinto, 375
Luke McKeown, 277
Yohann Harth, 270
Jordan Caruso, 264
Cooper Webster, 262
Alejandro Sánchez, 258
Gustavo Ariel, 238
Alessandro Bico, 224
Zac Campbell, 217
To say it’s been a dominant year for the combined Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing and Team Redline efforts would be spot on. Through the 11 combined Sprint and Feature races in 2024, the alliance holds eight victories, the other three belonging to Luke McKeown and Alejandro Sánchez from the Apex Racing Team/Stormforce Racing alliance. In points, they hold six of the top 12 spots, adding in Lulham on the Verstappen.com Racing team.
Following Imola, Job’s points lead increased for the first time in three events. While next week’s finale at Monza features Feature-level points in the Sprint, increasing the available points to 110 from the usual 85, the Imola results have left two drivers with a chance at winning a second title—Job and Pinto. Pinto has yet to win, but his consistency has been on par with his title winning season in 2022, a title-winning season where he only had one Sprint race win.
ALL-STARS: Featuring the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) for the first time this season, the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup All-Stars took on the curves and straights at Imola for their penultimate battle of the season as well. Two weeks ago, it was Ayhancan Guven beating up on the normal slate of drivers. This time around, two Porsche drivers in Laurin Heinrich and Bastian Buus showed up for the fun.
The two took the front row in the Sprint, and up until the final corner, it seemed like they would finish in those exact spots. While Heinrich pulled away for the easy victory, Buus battled against The Pulpo Lopez for the runner-up spot. On the final lap, they made contact, sending Buus back to eighth while Lopez took a runner-up spot. Casey Kirwan, the points leader and defending series champion, was also in the mix for a runner-up before he spun out and fell back to finish in seventh.
After the full-field invert for the Feature, Borja Zazo led the way. Daniel Gray made his way up into the lead a few laps later as the field began to un-invert. As Zazo fell to fourth, both Quirkitized and Dan Suzuki made their way into the podium positions. Quirk gave Gray a run for the win, but Gray held on for his first All-Stars victory. Kirwan struggled again, finishing eighth. While Lopez finished 10th in the Feature, he gained on Kirwan for the points title, now only separated by 15 points entering the Monza finale next week.
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports All-Stars Sprint results from Imola were as follows:
Laurin Heinrich
The Pulpo Lopez
Sampsoid
Emree
LoveFortySix
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports All-Stars Feature results from Imola were as follows:
Daniel Gray
Dan Suzuki
Quirkitized
Borja Zazo
Grizzle
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports All-Stars points through Round 6 are as follows:
Casey Kirwan, 197
The Pulpo Lopez, 182
Quirkitized, 154
Daniel Gray, 120
Sampsoid, 118
The 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season concludes this weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on April 6th. Coverage begins on Saturday at 18:00 GMT (2PM ET) with the Porsche All-Stars kicking off the show in their third and final vehicle of the season, the Porsche 911 GT3 R. After the All-Stars, the Supercup begins at 19:00 GMT (3PM ET).
For more information on the 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season, visit www.iracing.com/pesc. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.