The first-ever Esports World Cup will host the 2024 season of the ESL R1 sim racing competition, one of the highest profile events on the racing esports calendar.

This year’s spring season of ESL R1 boasts a $500,000 prize pool with $25,000 going to the drivers’ champion whilst the majority of the prize pool will be distributed according to the teams’ championship standings.

Each of the 12 teams will field four drivers, with the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team making one change from the previous ESL R1 tournament. Charlie Collins, the hugely experienced iRacing driver and winner of last year’s IMSA Esports Global Championship, replaces Mack Bakkum for the current season.

The other three drivers in the roster are Mitchell deJong, Dayne Warren as well as defending champion Joshua Rogers.

ESL R1 is run on RENNSPORT, a game which hasn’t been fully released yet but is using the series as part of its development process.

Unlike in previous ESL R1 seasons, the drivers’ and teams’ championships are cordoned off into separate races. Points will only be contributed towards the teams’ championship in the opening three online qualifying rounds, with the drivers competing for individual honours in the following three rounds.

Each online qualifier round is held on its own day at a specific circuit and follows a knockout tournament format. 

Each round starts with four quarter-final races containing one driver per team. The top six finishers progress through to the semi-final stage. From there the top six finishers in both semi-finals qualify for the day’s final.

Drivers score points based on their finishing position every race they compete in, meaning those who make it through to the final will have three opportunities per round to build up their points tally.

Daytona, Orchard Road and Monza are the three chosen circuits for the teams’ championship qualifiers with Hockenheim, Atlanta and Spa the three tracks for the subsequent drivers’ championship qualifiers.

There’s plenty of racing action each round as each of the seven races (four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and the final) will last approximately 45 minutes with 5-6 hours the expected broadcast length for each round.

At the end of the online qualifiers all the teams will progress through to the next stage of the competition held in Riyadh as a part of the Esports World Cup, but only the best performing drivers in the individual championship will continue and compete for their own personal share of the prize money.

There’s a lot for the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team to live up to as their previous trip to Riyadh ended with the team winning the ESL R1 x Gamers8 teams’ championship just last year.

The first round in the teams’ championship online qualifiers saw some highs and lows around Daytona for the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team, but ultimately a promising start to their title defence charge.

Three drivers progressed out of the knockouts with Mitchell DeJong the sole exception down in 10th in his race.

By contrast though, both Charlie Collins and Joshua Rogers won their knockouts after snatching the top spot on the final lap just before crossing the finish line. Collins won by a mere 0.007s and Rogers by 0.015s.

The semi-final stage didn’t go as planned for Dayne Warren as he started the race from the back of the grid after exceeding track limits. In the race he converted it into a seventh place finish, one away from progressing to the final.

Semi-final two was much more successful as Collins started fourth and finished third - comfortably making it into the final.

Rogers had a much more difficult task as he qualified down in 11th. However his recovery drive in the race was excellent, moving up to eighth by the end of the first lap and securing a spot in the final with a fifth place finish.

Despite the encouraging performances in the earlier rounds, the final was far less successful with Rogers the victim in the first lap hustle as contact dropped him down to last place and some 11 seconds behind the leaders.

Across the remaining laps Rogers was able to close the gap to the front, but only a final lap spin by Williams Esports driver Dominik Blajer prevented Rogers from finishing in last place.

Meanwhile Collins had a far less dramatic run in the final but still finished in the bottom half. But an eighth place race result was still an improvement on his 11th starting position.

Jörn Jens (Performance Coach): “We prepared very well for the race day, despite having to adapt to last-minute rule changes. But we managed that well. Daytona always requires a bit of luck. But with three drivers in the semi-final and two in the final, we can definitely be satisfied and we’re pleased with the points haul.”

Charlie Collins (UK, Porsche Coanda Esports Racing): “We knew that, given the current classification of the Porsche 911 GT3 R, we’d be fighting an uphill battle against the other cars. But the team did a fantastic job in compensating for this disadvantage. That’s why I’m happy with the results – even if the final could’ve gone better. At least I know that I can keep up with the frontrunners.”

Joshua Rogers (AUS, Porsche Coanda Esports Racing): “All in all, it was a day of highs, lows and a race win. I struggled with the qualifying sessions but I still managed to make it through to the final. Then, I got completely caught out at the start and found myself at the back of the field. That being said, we scored decent points as a team and are well-prepped for the coming weekend.”

With one round completed in the three-round long online qualifiers the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team sit fourth in the championship standings with 109 points. Williams Esports are the current leaders on 166.

The second round will take place at the Orchard Road circuit on May 24 and the full event will be available to watch on the Porsche Twitch channel from 17:00 CEST here.