2026 Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship Series | Race #5 | Monza Championship Event | Preview
October 23rd, 2026 by Justin Melillo
The Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship Series concludes this Saturday, October 24th, featuring 32 of the best sim racers around the globe. This final battle will take place at one of the most renowned venues in the world, located in Italy, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Nine drivers enter the finale with a mathematical shot at a championship, but seven of those drivers are within 23 points with the best shot at taking it.
Mitchell deJong took control of the points lead two weeks ago despite a number of contentious battles involving Sebastian Job. Gustavo Ariel and Alejandro Sánchez are right in the fight for the title, both just 11 points back of deJong. Job, along with Florian Lebigre, Charlie Collins, and the defending World Champion, Cooper Webster, all have a fighting chance as well with just one event left in the season.
Live streaming of the events will begin on Saturday at 19:00 GMT (3:00 p.m. ET) via Porsche’s channels on YouTube and Twitch.
LAST RACE | CONTROVERSY BEFALLS INTERLAGOS AS TITLE BATTLE TIGHTENS UP
Florian Lebigre came into the day two weeks ago as the championship leader, but his qualifying efforts to start the day at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace—also known as Interlagos—were not the start to the day he needed. While Gustavo Ariel dominated 99 percent of the Sprint, the real battle was for eighth and the transfer to the Main race pole.
Job, in seventh, didn’t want to let Mitchell deJong by so that he would be in danger of losing the spot to Lebigre, who was ninth. As Ariel slowed coming to the line, allowing Dayne Warren to take the win, the battle for seventh, eighth, and ninth came to a head as they nearly all wrecked. Job and deJong made it through, but Lebigre took a massive hit.
In the Main event, Job took control from deJong, but behind them, it was Alejandro Sánchez and Charlie Collins waiting in the wings. On the final lap, Job and deJong made contact entering Turn 1. This took deJong out of the race for the win, but brought Sánchez and Collins to the battle against Job. Sánchez ultimately prevailed as Job went for a slide with half of a lap to go. Lebigre kept his season alive by recovering to finish 11th.
LAST TIME AT MONZA | SEBASTIAN JOB TAKES TWO, EARNS 2024 WORLD TITLE
The last time the Porsche Esports Supercup World Championship Series took to Monza was two seasons ago, in 2024, and like it will be on Saturday, a title was on the line. Job came into the night with a solid chance to win the title, and did more than needed to real it in, despite his closest competitor, Diogo Pinto, winning the final Main race of the season.
By finishing in seventh in the Sprint, Job had it in the bag as long as Pinto didn’t win or finish second. The two were on the front row together for the Main, and Job’s chances almost took a wrong turn as he dipped down the running order. Pinto, meanwhile, had the win in hand. As long as Job finished 17th or better, he would win a second title. Another seventh secured it without question.
MONZA TRACK FACTS
Known to racing aficionados and car buffs alike simply as “Monza,” the Autodromo Nazionale Monza is among the most fabled motor racing circuits in all the world. Constructed in Monza’s Royal Villa park in the early 1920s, the circuit has hosted the Italian Grand Prix Formula One race every year but one since the series’ inception and holds the record for the fastest (153.842mph/247.585kph) and closest finish (.18s covering the top four) in Formula One history in 2003 and 1971, respectively.
While its storied history (and proximity to Ferrari’s headquarters in Maranello) makes Monza the unchallenged home of Italian Formula One racing, the facility has played host to virtually every form of motorsports over the years, from sports prototypes, GTs and touring cars, to MotoGP and superbikes. Monza even hosted the legendary Race of Two Worlds in 1957-58, which pitted Indianapolis-style race cars against Formula One cars. Thus the breadth of Monza’s roll call winners is unparalleled, from Tazio Nuvolari and Amedeo Ruggeri to Juan Manuel Fangio, Jimmy Bryan, John Surtees, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, who earned the first F1 win of his career in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
Monza has three very different tracks – the 3.6 mile (5.793K) Grand Prix circuit, the 1.494 mile (2.4K) Junior circuit and the Alta Velocita, a steeply-banked 2.6 mile (4.25K) oval. Although a combination of the Grand Prix circuit and Alta Velocita was used in Formula One races in the 1950s, the practice was discontinued owing to the ferocious pounding the bumpy oval meted out to cars and drivers alike. As well the Grand Prix circuit has undergone a number of safety-targeted modifications over the years, including the addition of the Variante del Rettifilo, Variante della Roggia and Variante Ascari chicanes, but the boomerang-shaped circuit’s fundamental high speed character remains unchanged.
For more information on the 2026 Porsche Esports Supercup season, visit www.iracing.com/pesc.
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