Marcenò and Job win on the streets of Long Beach

The third event of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup 2023 as well as the All-Star-Series took place this past Saturday. The venue for the event was to be Long Beach as voted by the community. The challenging street circuit is well known to be absolutely unforgiving, punishing drivers immediately for the smallest of errors. As such, all drivers had to be on top of their game here.

Having already taken the top spot at the season opening event at Hockenheim, Jordan Caruso (AUS/Altus Esports) again showed his speed. He took pole position almost two full tenths of a second ahead of his team mate Simone Maria Marcenò (IT/Altus Esports). On the second row of the grid was another team pairing in the form of Yohann Harth (F/Stormforce Racing ART) and Alejandro Sánchez (E/Stormforce Racing ART). Defending champion Diogo C. Pinto (P/Team Redline) ended his qualifying session in sixth.

 

As the lights went green for the 13 lap long sprint race, it was Simone Maria Marcenò who got the best start, taking the lead of the race before the field even reached the first corner. In the back, an unfortunate contact between Oskari Rinne (FI/BS+COMPETITION) and Gianni Vecchio (D/Team Redline) on the pit straight resulted in a chain reaction that left multiple drivers with significant damage to their cars. Another incident occurred at the end of the opening lap, when Quentin Vialatte (F/R8G Esports) tried to force his way through on the inside of the hairpin. This second incident resulted in several more wounded cars, and most significantly, also effectively ended the race of championship leader Diogo C. Pinto.

 

The final major twist of the sprint race occurred in the penultimate lap. Alessandro Bico (IT/Williams Esports) dove down the inside of Quentin Vialatte on the entry to the final corner, spinning him out in the process. The hold-up created by this failed last-minute passing attempt allowed Bobby Zalenski (USA/VRS Coanda) to slip through and take over eighth place and with that the reverse grid pole position for the following 26 lap long main race. At the front of the field, despite being kept under pressure all the way through the race, Simone Maria Marcenò crossed the line first in his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and became the first Italian to win a Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup race.

For the main race, it was again the second-place starter who got the jump on the entire pack. This time it was Sebastian Job (GB/Oracle Redbull Racing Esports) who bolted off the line and grabbed the lead. Pole man Bobby Zalenski spun up his wheels, losing several spots before he even got properly going. That situation was made even worse, when a tiny contact between Jordan Caruso and Bryn Collins (GB/VRS Coanda) resulted in the latter’s car sliding backwards across the track and into that of Zalenski at turn one, delaying him as well as Alejandro Sánchez. All following drivers did well to not be caught up in the incident themselves.

More calamity followed when Jamie Fluke (GB/Apex Racing Team) spun out exiting the final corner after he made contact with Gustavo Ariel (BR/TXC Racing by TK) and Zac Campbell (USA/VRS Coanda) was hit by Diogo C. Pinto on his way to salvage some points from what had been an unlucky round for the twenty-year-old up to that point. The latter of these two incidents also caused the following cars to be bunched up, ultimately leading to further strife between Gianni Vecchio and Salva Talens (E/Stormforce Racing ART) in the fountain section of the circuit. At the front of the field, Sebastian Job did well to maintain the race lead, though the 2020 champion came under increasing pressure from the likes of Charlie Collins (GB/VRS Coanda), Jordan Caruso and his own stable mate Cooper Webster (AUS/Oracle Redbull Racing Esports) as the laps ticked down.

 

Job made sure to not open himself up to any attacks from behind on his way to the checkered flag and scored his first race victory of the year ahead of Charlie Collins who, thanks to another consistent round, inherited the championship lead from Diogo C. Pinto. Caruso finished third, while Webster, who across both races made up 11 positions, was fourth. The other standout performer in that regard was Sam Kuitert (NL/URANO eSports), who from twenty-ninth position before the sprint race, managed to finish the main race in fourteenth.

In the lead-up to the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup races, it was the turn of the content creators to put on a show as part of the All-Star-Series. New for this event: Both races were to be distance-limited instead of timed, running over 12 and 20 laps respectively. It was also the final All-Star-Series event of the season in which the drivers would utilize the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup before switching to the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport for the next trio of events.

At the end of qualifying, it was Casey Kirwan whose name was at the top of the timing charts. Both he and 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland champion Laurin Heinrich, who was once again competing at this round, started from the front row. Heinrich got the better start, passed Kirwan and never gave up that top spot. A last lap dive from the latter resulted in contact, spun Heinrich out and almost cost him the win. Kirwan made sure to act in a sportsmanlike manner though, didn’t capitalize on the situation and dropped back to second.

 

The fully inverted grid for the main race provided plenty of action once more. Javier “Stadi” Soto and Dave “DaveCam” Cameron lined up in row one and battled for the race lead through the first few corners, with DaveCam eventually coming out on top. He went about trying to create a gap to the cars behind right away, as the pace advantage that both Casey Kirwan and Laurin Heinrich had during the sprint would make it difficult to hold onto that lead, even with them having to start from positions thirteen and fourteen respectively. Both of them spent the majority of the race working their way back up the field, which meant that DaveCam was just about able to hold on to the lead across the line on the last lap, claiming the win after tough luck in the sprint race.

From the streets of downtown Long Beach, the series moves to the fast and sweeping turns of the Circuit of the Americas near Austin in Texas. Despite being a relatively new circuit, having only been opened in 2012, it’s proven popular with many drivers and provided fantastic racing action across numerous categories. As it’s been constructed with plenty of good overtaking opportunities in mind, the drivers of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup should have no issues with putting on another pair of exciting races. Make sure you miss none of the action, when the livestream for Round 4 of the season starts on March 18th at 20:00 CET. If you want to see how the content creators of the All-Star-Series get on in their first event with the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport on top of that, tune in an hour earlier, at 19:00 CET.