From winning to losing in Race #2 of PESC Season 2022

Racing in Barcelona always gets hot whether real or virtual. Something the recent race in the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup has proved to be true once again. After a superior performance, Britain’s Kevin Ellis Jr. won the main race - but now it’s someone else who is in front of this season.

 

A total of $200.000 is on the game, but there’s still a long way to go. However, the results of the second race in the virtual motorsport series make the next races look promising.

 

This time, the 35 participating sim racers competed on the Spanish Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with Kevin Ellis Jr. finishing on top of the podium – something that was unexpected after he finished on P18 in the last race.

0,083 seconds. That’s the only thing that separated sprint race winner Diogo C. Pinto (Team Redline) from his pursuer Alejandro Sánchez (MSi eSports) on the 4,655 kilometre Grand-Prix track, even though Pinto’s victory seemed certain with the fastest qualifying lap just moments before.

 

An incident in the second round opened up an opportunity for Sánchez to leave behind Australian Dayne Warren (Coanda), British Charlie Collins and Zac Campbell from the US and close the gap between himself and Pinto. In the end, the Portuguese driver was only just able to stand his ground.

 

The French Coanda driver Jeremy Bouteloup and German Maximilian Benecke finished the sprint on P3 and P4. Peter Berryman (Apex Racing Team), Campbell and Jamie Fluke (Apex Racing Team) occupied positions five to seven, with Kevin Ellis Jr. claiming eighth.

Top drivers once again faced a preliminary decision this race after a rear-end collision in Turn 10 when Charlie Collins was shunted from behind, losing control of his 510 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and sending Pinto, Sanchez, Graham Carroll (Red Bull Racing Esports), Warren, Collins and Berryman off-track.

 

This left the road to victory clear for Kevin Ellis Jr. who started in pole position and cleverly managed to defend his lead against fellow teammate Fluke as well as Campbell, Benecke and Bouteloup.

 

Pinto, who was involved in the incident, was only able to finish on P14 but, with his sprint race victory, moves to the top of the leaderboard with 112 points.

 

Ayhancan Güven, winner of the season opening race at the Hockenheimring, was able to finish the race on P9 after a spectacular catch-up from P18 but falls back to third place with 99 points in the overall standings.

 

Second place is held by Jeremy Bouteloup – the only driver finishing every race in the Top 10 so far. 

Before the main race, well-known Content Creators already provided entertainment in the All-Stars Races. Special Guest and Porsche Works Driver Laurens Vanthoor fell behind due to an accident at the start in the first round.

 

Jimmy Broadbent experienced quite the opposite and was able to take the lead right from starting at seventh position and defend his lead until the chequered flag. Second place went to Jaroslav “Jardier” Honzik from the Czech Republic. Third place went to Australian Emily “Emree” Jones.

 

In the second run, Xabier ”Heikki360ES” used the reverse starting order to his advantage and turned pole position into a victory. But it wasn’t that easy:

first, he had to fend off repeated attacks from Laurens Vanthoor, until another incident pushed the Porsche Works Driver back to 8th position. Emily Jones took another podium finish in second place. Dan “Suzuki” Sosulski completed the winning trio in third place.

The community voted, now it’s decided: the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, also known as the Interlagos racetrack, will be the venue for the third race of the season. After his win on this track last season, can Kevin Ellis Jr. repeat his victory?

 

Who will claim the top of the leaderboard and, after two unfortunate races, can former champion Sebastian Job move up to the front without any incidents? We look forward to having these questions and more answered on 5 March when the PESC goes live again.