Florian Lebigre, Mitchell deJong shine in rain-impacted event at Suzuka | Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship

The midway point of the 2026 Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship Series season got a bit wet and wild on Saturday afternoon at Suzuka Circuit. While Verstappen Sim Racing’s Florian Lebigre earned his second Sprint win of the season from the pole, it was Coanda Esports’ Mitchell deJong surviving opening lap chaos in the Main, opting to stay out on dry tires in the rain, and holding on for his first win of the 2026 season after 30 minutes of white knuckle racing.

Lebigre, who also took over the points lead at the end of the day, opted to pit from fourth in the Main for wet weather tires just after halfway, when the virtual skies began to open up on the back half of the track. Behind Lebigre, deJong was in seventh and stayed out. Through the greasy back half of the track, the dry tires struggled. However, the front half was dry enough that the wets never got a complete advantage.

Lebigre could only get back to where he pitted from, finishing in fourth, but deJong kept his car on track and out of trouble at the end to claim the victory.

What an ending to the third round of the 2026 Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship Series battle at Suzuka!
Rain was in the mix, there was a battle of differing strategies, and Mitchell deJong ends up on top after 30 minutes! An incredible drive! https://t.co/iXOMm55lGF

— iRacing (@iRacing) October 3, 2026

It probably didn’t help that deJong found himself off-track in the first corner to start the Main. “I was terrified the whole time,” deJong said post-race. “When we heard that we were getting a bit heavier rain for the last couple of laps, I was on 16 incidents out of 17. I had no room to go off the track, and I thought, at least three times in the last couple of laps, that I was just going to go off… Oh my gosh, that was so stressful. The whole time, we were trying to figure out what to do with the strategy… We just got lucky there, to be honest.”

As for Lebigre, he picks 72 points for his efforts, earning 10 from the pole position, 25 for winning the Sprint, and 37 for finishing fourth in the Main, just four points shy of deJong’s new season-high of 76. “In our test races, this was the choice we would have normally done,” Lebigre said about pitting for wet weather tires. “We would have probably never stayed out on slicks… One more lap, it could have been very interesting for us.”

When asked about the championship, Lebigre doesn’t want to think about it now that he’s in control. “If I think about the championship too much, I’m going to stress, and when I stress, it’s not so good. It’s better if I don’t think about it, to be honest.” Regardless, with just two more events at Interlagos and Monza, Lebigre will have to keep up his momentum to hold off the likes of deJong and the two former champions behind him—Cooper Webster and Sebastian Job.

QUALIFYING: LEBIGRE DOUBLES UP, EARNS SECOND POLE OF SEASON

For the first time in the 2026 season, there’s been a repeat pole winner following the qualifying session at Suzuka Circuit. Pole sitter to open the season at Spa-Francorchamps, Florian Lebigre set another quick time, earning both 10 points towards the championship and the top spot on the grid for the Sprint race. Cooper Webster wound up second, a place that he’s grown accustomed to being in this season, between Regionals and Worlds as he looks to defend his title.

Mitchell deJong, Sebastian Job, and Charlie Collins, the point leader entering the day, rounded out the top-five, all scoring an amount of points heading into the Sprint. Coanda’s Dayne Warren scored the coveted eighth starting spot, just behind two Verstappen Sim Racing entries of Gustavo Ariel and Diogo Pinto.

ROUND 3 | SUZUKA CIRCUIT | QUALIFYING TOP-10

SPRINT RACE: LEBIGRE DOMINATES AS DRAMA FINDS BATTLE FOR EIGHTH ON FINAL LAP

For the top-six, the Suzuka Sprint race was straightforward, as they all fell into line and ran the 15-minute session without drama, finishing where they started. Around the battle for the invert to the pole, however, was the most intriguing battle.

Dayne Warren had it, but in an opposite similarity to his battle with Cooper Webster last week, Warren fought to take seventh place from Diogo Pinto instead of stay in line and maintain that automatic invert to the pole. The battle for seventh went on for a number of laps, the two trading blows until Warren finally did get by. However, Warren didn’t immediately pull away after passing Pinto, and that set up for ninth place Tristan Iglesias (Purple Group) to catch up and have a shot at the pole invert.

On the final lap, entering the Casio Triangle, Iglesias sent it inside of Pinto. The two made contact, and ultimately went off before exiting the chicane. That allowed Hady-Noah Mimassi (Grid-and-Go.com eSport) to take advantage and jump from 10th to eighth on the results board, inverting him to also claim his first top spot grid spot for the Main race. Pinto recovered to finish ninth while Iglesias fell back to finish in 12th.

ROUND 3 | SUZUKA CIRCUIT | SPRINT RACE RESULTS

MAIN RACE: WET WEATHER TURNS RACE UPSIDE DOWN—DEJONG SURVIVES ON SLICKS FOR WIN

As the session came to a close in the Sprint, precipitation loomed on the in-game radar. Rain was on the way, and strategy would be critical to the outcome of the final race of the day. Mimassi led the field off the line, but almost immediately behind him, chaos began to erupt. Diogo Pinto had a slight jump, and was served a black flag. Luke McKeown (Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing), Xander Reed (Kubina Racing), and Agustin Torlaschi (Purple Group) all came together just feet past the starting blocks, and it collected multiple cars.

Up ahead, the calamity continued into the opening corner, where Sebastian Job looked inside of Charlie Collins, who was inside of Gustavo Ariel. Collins made out like a bandit, but Ariel and Job both went for a slide, and it nearly collected Mitchell deJong. deJong fell back to 10th, while Ariel rejoined in 15th and Job in 18th.

Meanwhile, Mimassi had a clean getaway, with Warren and Collins in tow. Lebigre was through the chaos with Webster, eventually making the pass for fourth a few laps later. This was all before the rain even started to fall.

Halfway through, and the track began to moisten. Lebigre and Webster were the first to jump down pit road, with others following suit the same lap or a lap later. Mimassi stayed on track, as did Warren, as did Collins. It would end up ultimately costing all three. Collins was the first to fall, overdriving into Spoon Curve and slamming into the barrier, ending his race. Both deJong and Elvis Rankin (Purple Group) were able to claw their way into the picture as the rain came down harder. Alejandro Sánchez was further back, but he was also closing into the front of the field.

With just under eight minutes to go, deJong took control from Warren, who had gotten control when Collins went off, since Mimassi was also struggling hard on dry tires in the wet. Most people had pitted for wet tires, but the track was starting to dry out again at that point. Lebigre was able to close in on half of the track, then gave back a bunch on the dry part. Then the rain came back and harder than before, making the track more treacherous than ever.

With deJong out front and the track getting even wetter, mistakes were magnified, and it cost Warren a top-five finish as he hit the incident limit from a late off-track and was penalized back to 18th. Mimassi also hit the incident limit at the end of 130R, then had contact with Lebigre, who was coming in a hurry on the wet weather tires. The contact broke the left rear tire and formed Mimassi to retire. Lebigre could only recover to fourth. Sánchez was able to get second, and Rankin held on to third. However, it was deJong celebrating in the rain at the end of the day.

ROUND 3 | SUZUKA CIRCUIT | MAIN RACE RESULTS

ROUND 3 | SUZUKA CIRCUIT | POINTS STANDINGS

Last week, Collins and Job were looking to be the two to beat. Job still has a solid chance, Collins not so much, but it’s Lebigre with control and deJong right behind, one pole position away from tying things up at the top. The defending series champion, Webster, still has a solid chance, 20 points back, two points ahead of the two-time champion, Job. Sánchez sits fifth, 33 points behind with two races to go.

NEXT UP: BRAWLING IN BRAZIL

After Spa, the Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship heads to the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, better known as Interlagos in São Paulo, Brazil, for the fourth round of the 2026 season. The events are scheduled for Saturday, October 10th, 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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