Porsche Coanda wins the championship with a second place at Le Mans.

The last chapter in the Le Mans Virtual Series 2022-2023 for Porsche Coanda is in the books. After 24 eventful hours on the virtual Le Mans track, the works team finished on P2 and P6. Similar to the real-life pendant, the World Endurance Championship (WEC), the Le Mans race is part of the whole series and a single event. At the latter, the Esports works team didn't claim the first overall virtual Le Mans victory. Still, the second-placed Porsche Coanda #20 LMP2 car piloted by Mitchell deJong, Joshua Rogers, Laurin Heinrich and Ayhancan Güven, won the Le Mans Virtual series' championship.

For the first time this season in the Le Mans Virtual series, the GTE and LMP2 cars went out on track for a combined qualifying. Both Porsche Coanda LMP2 cars took on the challenge and secured their spot in the newly introduced Hyperpole session. Joshua Rogers, the driver of the Porsche Coanda #20 car, showed an extraordinary performance. He got P1 in the qualifying session by more than seven-tenths. The drivers surprised the competition with a remarkable strategy for the Hyperpole session. Mack Bakkum and Joshua Rogers went for just one flying lap to make use of an empty track and no traffic. The strategy gamble paid off: Joshua Rogers secured another pole position this season, right in front of his teammate Mack Bakkum. A front-row lockout for Porsche Coanda.

Former Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich started the race in the Porsche Coanda #20 car. In the beginning, the racer from Würzburg had to let current Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen through. Quickly after, he demonstrated impressively who got the fastest car on the track. The racing action in the first hours had many on-track manoeuvres and close calls in the pit lane in store. With sunset and the first drops of rain, the two Red Flags caused chaos at the pit stands. The Red Flags were caused by server dropouts – a problem real racers don’t know. From 9:30 PM on, the on-track action resumed. Two unlucky drive-through penalties for Ayhancan Güven and Laurin Heinrich threw the team back again. But the four drivers of the #20 car were not impressed and responded with a strong performance on the track. They could close the gap to the leading car to 21 seconds, thanks to a superior pit stop strategy. With a second place at Le Mans, the Porsche #20 LMP2 car collected the crucial points to clinch the championship.

At the start, Morris Schuring could also not defend himself against the Formula 1 World Champion's attack into turn one and lost a position. Like its sister car, the Porsche Coanda #23 car with the two Porsche Esports works drivers Mack Bakkum and Dayne Warren, together with their real-life teammates Bastian Buus and Morris Schuring, were able to make up for the lost positions and race at the front. Even before the total server failure and the two red flags, the #23 car lost important time due to an individual server problem. Although a lap was credited retrospectively to get back on the lead lap, this setback dampened the momentum after the strong qualifying. Another server dropout and a drive-through penalty early on Sunday morning thwarted the Porsche Coanda #23 LMP2 car's chances of victory.

Just like last year, the activities of the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team were streamed live on the Porsche Twitch channel. The two show hosts, Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett and Wil Vincent (RaceSpotTV), provided exciting race insights and a great event programme during the show. At the same time, the factory team fought for victory on the track. For all information and news about the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team, follow Coanda's social media platforms, the Porsche Twitch channel, and the Porsche Motorsport Hub: Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.