Porsche Coanda travels to Poland. The ESL R1 season starts in Katowice.

The wait is over. Now it counts: the new ESL R1 racing series starts with a furious spectacle in its first season. The 12 teams will compete against each other over two days of racing at the ESL Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice, Poland. It will be an extraordinary LAN event. Die-hard Esports fans know that the world's best Counter-Strike (CS:GO) teams meet in Katowice once a year to battle out who takes home the $1 million prize pool. This year marks the start of a new chapter for the Esports racing community and the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team with the inaugural ESL R1 meeting on the biggest Esports stage.

The racing series is new, and the simulation has yet to be launched. The fastest racers will have to prove their talent on the new platform. The Australians Joshua Rogers and Dayne Warren, the US-American Mitchell deJong and the Dutch driver Mack Bakkum will start for the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Series. The four Porsche Esports works drivers faced a new challenge right after their virtual 24 hours race in Le Mans in January. On Saturday, 11 February, the curtains will fall, and we'll see how fast the Le Mans Virtual series overall winners are in the new sim.

The LAN event in Katowice will mark the start of the new season. A full race day will be held each Saturday and Sunday. The following six online events will be presented in a split format: Friday nights will be qualifying and the respective quarter-finals. Those who proceed to the next round will face a stressful weekend: on Monday evening, the second part will start with another round of qualifications and the respective semi-finals. In the end, the Superpole and the final race conclude the online event. For the season’s last two rounds, the 24 best drivers, half of the season starting grid, will meet at the Rennsport Summit in Munich. A two-day event will lead to the crowning of the champion. But no matter if the racers have to compete on two days during the online events or on the LAN events, the racing format stays the same.

11.–12. February, Intel Extreme Masters, Katowice (Poland), Round 1 and 2
10. and 13. March, Round 3
24 and 27. March, Round 4
7. and 10. April, Round 5
14. and 17. April Round 6
21. and 24. April, Round 7
12. and 15. May, Round 8
3. and 4. June, Major Finale, Rennsport Summit Munich, Round 9 and 10

Those who want to cheer with the team before the start of the online events can do so on Saturday and Sunday on the ESL R1 Twitch and YouTube channels. There, the organizers will feature the action on the track, exclusive looks behind the scenes, interviews with the main protagonists, and the most exciting race day moments. On both race days, the broadcast will start at 12:00 PM (CET). The first race action will commence at 12:30 PM (CET). From then on, every other hour will see another race start until the big finale: at 6:30 PM (CET), the fastest 12 drivers will try to get the first-ever ESL R1 victory.

For all information and news about the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team and the new ESL R1 racing series, follow Coanda's social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook), the Porsche Twitch channel, the Porsche Motorsport Instagram channel, and the Porsche Motorsport Hub.