Kevin Nielsen victorious in Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series Feature at Long Beach

October 30th, 2023 by

Nielsen takes points lead with Feature victory; Christensen scores “extremely important” Sprint race win

The penultimate battle of the 2023 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series took to the Streets of Long Beach for the first and only street race of the season on Saturday. Ultimate victory belonged to Denmark’s Kevin Nielsen, winner of the 26-lap Feature race after qualifying in ninth and finishing fifth in the Sprint race. Fellow Dane Rasmus Christensen was victorious in the 13-lap Sprint, winning the battle into Turn 1 from the second starting position over polesitter Matti Sipilä of Finland.

Nielsen took control away from American driver Michael Janney just before halfway and never looked back, leading the final 15 laps to the checkers. The victory propels Nielsen to the top of the standings with only one race to go in the series, a points battle that will feature no drop weeks. Unofficially, the top six in the standings leaving Long Beach are virtually locked into 2024 eligibility, but that’s assuming they both earn points and don’t lose any in post-race penalties when the series concludes at the Nürburgring GP in a week’s time. The top 15 point scorers in the Contender Series will be in the running for an opportunity to race at the top level of the series in 2024.

The day started off with a Sipilä pole position, fresh off of his victory a week ago in the Feature race at Road Atlanta. A pole is worth 10 points, which is big for his chances at earning 2024 eligibility. Off the start in the Sprint, however, it was Christensen taking control with some perfect acceleration off of the line. Sipilä fell back to second as the field attempted to navigate through the fountain section, most making it out without too much incident.

There wouldn’t be too much of a battle up front—Sipilä kept Christensen honest while Italian Dino Lombardi pressured from third. Christensen went on to win, while William Chadwick from the United Kingdom wound up in eighth, the position to be to invert to the pole for the Feature.

Long Beach Sprint Race Top 10:

  1. Rasmus Christensen
  2. Matti Sipilä
  3. Dino Lombardi
  4. Luke McKeown
  5. Kevin Nielsen
  6. Simone Maria Marcenò
  7. Michael Janney
  8. William Chadwick
  9. Jakub Maciejewski
  10. Quentiin Vialatte

The Feature would get a little more feisty as the final hairpin at Turn 11 would become a breeding zone for dive bombs and contact through the event. At one point in the race, Christensen was a victim of contact, and it resulted in a finish outside of the points. Chadwick led the opening five laps from the pole, but on the sixth lap, Janney took a dive and made a little bit of contact to get through. The next time around, Nielsen followed through, with Italy’s Simone Maria Marcenò also fighting through into a podium position.

Nielsen kept the move in his back pocket and eventually struck for the lead on Lap 12. Janney gave plenty of room, which also allowed for Marcenò to take a peek alongside as they raced towards the line. While Nielsen pulled a bit of a gap, Marcenò made the move around into the second spot the next lap by. Marcenò, a winner at the venue in the top level Supercup event earlier this year, was hot on Nielsen’s tail, keeping pressure until the end of the race. Nielsen had enough, however, to hold on to the win, his first of the season. Lombardi rounded out the podium positions behind Marcenò.

Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series Round 5 results at Long Beach Street Circuit were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts.
1 4 3 Kevin Nielsen 26 0.000 15 1:19.584 66
2 3 27 Simone Maria Marcenò 26 -0.612 0 1:19.556 62
3 6 13 Dino Lombardi 26 -6.575 0 1:19.786 66
4 2 92 Michael Janney 26 -9.668 6 1:20.155 51
5 13 12 Bryn Collins 26 -9.970 0 1:19.824 42
6 1 88 William Chadwick 26 -10.217 5 1:19.987 44
7 12 40 Julien Soenen 26 -11.287 0 1:19.867 37
8 9 29 Jakub Maciejewski 26 -12.164 0 1:19.950 38
9 10 81 Quentiin Vialatte 26 -15.311 0 1:20.221 35
10 20 47 Xander Reed 26 -15.724 0 1:20.109 23
11 19 57 Mathias Stokbæk Jensen 26 -18.030 0 1:20.251 22
12 16 28 Sam Kuitert 26 -22.364 0 1:20.302 23
13 14 54 Oscar Py 26 -23.484 0 1:20.400 23
14 17 20 Chris Lulham 26 -23.733 0 1:20.364 18
15 22 83 Bobby Zalenski 26 -24.238 0 1:20.184 12
16 24 95 Parker White 26 -24.878 0 1:20.042 10
17 23 30 Jobe Stewart 26 -24.895 0 1:20.429 9
18 21 96 Malthe Rømer 26 -26.288 0 1:20.109 8
19 30 71 Raphael Silva 26 -28.826 0 1:20.363 7
20 28 14 Jeff Giassi 26 -30.517 0 1:20.383 6
21 7 11 Matti Sipilä 26 -30.769 0 1:20.244 37
22 18 21 Antoine Lacharite 26 -31.414 0 1:20.276 7
23 31 70 Josh Thompson 26 -39.174 0 1:20.570 3
24 27 5 Lucas Daugaard 26 -1:06.129 0 1:20.419 2
25 26 17 Victor Miranda 26 -1:06.325 0 1:20.290 1
26 8 18 Rasmus Christensen 20 -6L 0 1:19.770 33
27 15 9 Carlos Fenollosa 17 DNF 0 1:20.626 6
28 11 33 Alexey Nesov 14 DNF 0 1:20.078 10
29 5 22 Luke McKeown 12 DNF 0 1:20.222 22
30 32 89 Juan Bleynat 7 DNF 0 1:20.762 0
31 25 87 Bernardo Faria 3 -23L 0 1:24.103 0
32 29 77 Pedro de Oliveira S 0 DNF 0 ——— 0

Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series points through Round 5 are as follows:

  1. Kevin Nielsen, 286
  2. Luke McKeown, 250
  3. Quentiin Vialatte, 231
  4. Parker White, 212
  5. Michael Janney, 197
  6. Oscar Py, 190
  7. Bryn Collins, 173
  8. Sam Kuitert, 166
  9. Julien Soenen, 146
  10. Simone Maria Marcenò, 129
  11. Dino Lombardi, 122
  12. William Chadwick, 120
  13. Chris Lulham, 112
  14. Matti Sipilä, 112
  15. Mathias Stokbæk Jensen, 109
    ———————————–
  16. Josh Thompson, 97
  17. Jakub Maciejewski, 95
  18. Bobby Zalenski, 94
  19. Alexey Nesov, 83
  20. Malthe Rømer, 81
  21. Xander Reed, 73
  22. Rasmus Christensen, 69
  23. Carlos Fenollosa, 52
  24. Victor Miranda, 50
  25. Jobe Stewart, 48

Post-race points penalties from Long Beach were applied to multiple drivers, including Lombardi, Bryn Collins, Mathias Stokbæk Jensen, Bobby Zalenski, and Alexey Nesov. These drivers in particular will head to the Nürburgring GP on Saturday fighting for a chance at 2024 series eligibility.

The finale to the 2023 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series season at the Nürburgring Grand-Prix-Strecke will kick off on Saturday, November 4 at 19:00 GMT (3PM ET), and will be available to watch on select iRacing and Porsche social channels.

For more information on the 2023 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series season, visit www.iracing.com/pesc/contender/. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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