ESL R1 round 5 – crucial points for the championship.

Every point counts for the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team! Since Dayne Warren, Mitchell deJong, Mack Bakkum, and Joshua Rogers want to compete on the big stage for the driver championship at the Spring Major Finale in Munich in early June. After the online rounds, the team championship will already be decided. Two goals that are still possible to achieve for the Esports pros from Porsche Coanda. After a strong and dominant performance on Friday night, all four drivers competed in the semi-finals on Monday. The two Australians qualified for the final race. Still, Mitchell deJong and Mack Bakkum suffered from an accident on lap 1 in the second semi-final. In the finale, the 12 drivers were separated by less than three-tenths in qualifying. Ultimately, Joshua Rogers finished P7 and his compatriot, Dayne Warren, crossed the finish line in P9.

The quarter-finals got off to an excellent start for the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team: Dayne Warren set a first tone in qualifying and took pole position for the race, which he finished in second place. Joshua Rogers also followed suit with pole position in the second qualifying session. A strong start and a supreme race brought him victory in his quarter-final. Both Australians thus booked their ticket to the semi-finals. Mitchell deJong had only one goal after the disappointing rounds so far: to be racing on Monday. With P5 in qualifying and the race, he succeeded. In the last race of the evening, Mack Bakkum showed a strong qualifying performance with third place. He climbed one step higher in the race results with a spectacular overtaking manoeuvre. His second place made Friday perfect for the Porsche Motorsport Esports works team.

The Hockenheimring seems to suit the Porsche Esports works drivers quite well. On the second day of Katowice, all four drivers made it to the semi-finals. In the first run of the evening, both Australians chased the fastest times. Joshua Rogers missed out on pole position by a small margin, though. Dayne Warren qualified on P6. Both racers showed a strong performance in the race: Joshua Rogers climbed to the top by overtaking the competition from Team Redline in the final stage of the race and kept his streak of finishing on top at the Hockenheimring. Dayne Warren was able to gain a position early in the race. He had to defend Erhan Jajovski from R8G for the remainder of the race. His fifth place secured him a ticket for the final, too. In the second semi-final, Mack Bakkum qualified on P5. Mitchell deJong finished the session on P7, one position behind the all-decisive sixth place. But the chase for the final's tickets came to an early and abrupt end for both: in the hairpin bend, both drivers got caught up in the carnage. Mack Bakkum spun, and Mitchell deJong found himself second to last. The American climbed to P8, but this result wasn't enough for the final. Mack Bakkum’s P12 meant an early end for him on Monday. The final race saw one of the toughest and tightest qualifying sessions of the ESL R1 online rounds. The margin between P1 and P12 was less than three-tenths – only 0.267 seconds separated Joni Törmälä from G2 Esports and Dayne Warren on P12. Joshua Rogers managed to secure P6 in qualifying. In the race itself, he couldn't defend from R8G's Jajovski and finished P7. Thanks to a couple of strong overtakes, Dayne Warren fought his way through to P9. Both drivers earned crucial points in the final race for the team and driver championship. Joshua Rogers is currently on P2 in the latter, and Porsche Coanda climbed up to P4 in the team's standings.

Next up for the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team is round 6 on the Nürburgring next Friday and Monday. The second part of the packed April will give the drivers already a direction for the championship. Only the top 24 drivers in the standings will make it to the Spring Major Finale in Munich, where they will fight out the championship. 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.