Florian Lebigre, Charlie Collins claim wins at Spa-Francorchamps | Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship

A new season of the Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship Series began with many familiar faces squaring off against a number of new names on Saturday. 32 of the best drivers around the world, who all earned their place through respective Regional Championships, took to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the opening round, and it was two former winners finding their way back to the winner’s circle by day’s end.

After Florian Lebigre scored the quick lap and dominated the first 15 minutes of the 2026 season, it looked as though Verstappen Sim Racing was headed for a sweep of the Pole, Sprint, and Main race events as Gustavo Ariel positioned himself to invert to the Main race pole, but Coanda Esports wound up taking the Main with Charlie Collins stealing it from Ariel on the final lap.

It’s never over until its over! Up until the last lap, Gustavo Ariel controlled the first Main of the 2026 Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship Series season. However, Charlie Collins was right in his mirror & pounced on the opportunity to steal it on the last lap at Spa! pic.twitter.com/FhfVZGkFPn

— iRacing (@iRacing) September 19, 2026

The two winning drivers on the night sit tied atop the standings with just four PESC events to go. The entire top-10 consists of drivers that have previously competed in the Porsche Esports Supercup. Next up for the series is a trip to Silverstone on September 26th.

QUALIFYING: LEBIGRE STRIKES FIRST WITH OPENING ROUND POLE

The Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship Series points format returns for the 2026 season, which means that as per usual, qualifying takes center stage at the top of every show with up to 10 points on the line for the fastest qualifier of the night. First through fifth earn points, each spot depreciating by two. Those who qualify in sixth get nothing, but there is one more caveat to consider. After the Sprint race concludes, the top-eight finishers are inverted, putting whoever finishes eighth to the front for the Main event.

Florian Lebigre just barely edged his backend teammate—the two-time series champion Sebastian Job (Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing)—for the pole position by 0.008 seconds. Coanda Esports locked out the rest of the top-five, with Alejandro Sánchez. Mitchell deJong, and Dayne Warren in those spots. Those three drivers race on the same team, but interestingly all qualified from different Regional Championships.

The defending series champion, Cooper Webster (Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing) began his title defense from the sixth position. Charlie Collins wound up seventh, and Xander Reed (Kubina Racing) was slotted into the coveted eighth spot for the start.

ROUND 1 | CIRCUIT DE SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS | QUALIFYING TOP-10

SPRINT RACE: LEBIGRE DOMINATES, ARIEL FIGHTS FOR MAIN RACE POLE INVERT

With turns like La Source, Eau Rouge, Raidillon, and the fight down the Kemmel Straight into Les Combes all in store for this new roster of drivers for their first laps of competition together, the new look Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship Series managed to make it through fairly cordial in the first seven laps of the new season.

Lebigre got the jump he needed, and so did Job on the outside as he quickly cut off Sánchez for the spot before the field entered La Source for the first time. The two Red Bull sponsored machines were able to lead from there with the rest of the spots still to be determined behind. Sánchez maintained his spot on the podium, but behind him, deJong had a moment around halfway up Eau Rouge and Raidillon, which forced him back to finish seventh after starting in fourth.

The battle was on for eighth and that transfer to the pole. Reed didn’t get the jump he would have liked, falling back to 10th almost immediately on the opening lap. This gave the eighth spot to Elvis Rankin, a backend teammate of Reed’s, over with the Purple Group. It also allowed Gustavo Ariel to move around him, and after about three minutes, Ariel was able to get by Rankin as well. Rankin, Reed, and Luke McKeown (Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing) all fought hard for the spot, but that transfer would belong to Ariel.

ROUND 1 | CIRCUIT DE SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS | SPRINT RACE RESULTS

MAIN RACE: COLLINS TAKES VICTORY AWAY FROM ARIEL ON FINAL LAP

Things seemed to be in the Red Bull’s court early on in the final 30 minute skirmish of the day, but 30 minutes is just enough time for anything to truly happen. Gustavo Ariel led the way safely off of the start, with Mitchell deJong falling into second, Cooper Webster in third, and a pair of Coanda’s in Charlie Collins and Dayne Warren rounding out the top-five.

Florian Lebigre, the Sprint race winner, was mired back in eighth with nearly no shot of challenging for a sweep. Just ahead of him, Sebastian Job and Alejandro Sánchez entered Eau Rouge on each other’s doors, which worked out for the former, but not the latter as Sánchez ended up off of the racing surface, falling back to 15th. A few laps later, Job entered alongside Dayne Warren in the same position, and it was Warren who had to abort the line, losing a number of spots, ultimately finishing outside the points in the Main by the end of the night.

Job was up to fifth, but the front four had made enough of a gap to exclude him from potential victory. The race was far from over, however.

Around the same time as Warren’s off-track excursion up the hill, Collins was setting up a pass on Webster for third. With deJong in second and Collins in third, the pair had Ariel isolated from his teammates, and the methodical motions of setting up for a late race pass was now on for the Coanda teammates.

With under 10 minutes to go, the weaving began for Ariel, in hopes to break the draft and keep deJong from getting a run. With just over four minutes left, deJong got there, but not far enough alongside, and it would cost him a spot to his teammate Collins behind him. Collins now had to start making those moves to get the run on Ariel, but would he have enough time?

As the field took the white flag, it did not look as though it would be possible. However, at the top of Raidillon, Ariel just caught the curb ever so slightly to upset his Porsche. Collins closed in and got alongside down the Kemmel Straight. The two made contact, but Collins was ahead and in the preferred line. Ariel sent it too hard, and had to cut Les Combes, earning a slow down penalty. He served the penalty into Bruxelles, which would let both Collins and deJong around. Collins held on for the victory.

ROUND 1 | CIRCUIT DE SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS | MAIN RACE RESULTS

ROUND 1 | CIRCUIT DE SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS | POINTS STANDINGS

Leaving Spa, four drivers sit three points separated in the standings in the fight for the 2026 title. Collins and Lebigre lead, but Job, seeking his third title, is only two points back. In fourth, deJong is only three points back. Ariel would have been in that spot, but gave up 10 points by falling from first to third on the final lap of the Main race, and sits 13 points back with four events to go.

NEXT UP: SILVERSTONE

After Spa, the Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship heads to Silverstone Circuit for the second round of the season. The events are scheduled for Saturday, September 26th, and will be live starting at 19:00 GMT (3:00 p.m. ET) via Porsche’s channels on YouTube and Twitch.

For more information on the 2026 Porsche Esports Supercup season, visit www.iracing.com/pesc.
For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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