Kuitert, Webster win 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup events at Imola

April 1st, 2024 by

For the second time in the 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season, Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing’s Cooper Webster is a Feature race winner.

The sixth event of the year took the 30 of the best sports car sim racers in the world to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, better known as Imola, for the penultimate battle of the championship. Following the Sprint invert, Webster led from the drop of the flag, holding off Team Redline’s Gustavo Ariel for the victory. Team Redline scored the Sprint win via Sam Kuitert, who scored his first career TAG Heuer Pole Award and victory in the opening race of the afternoon.

Imola marks Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing’s seventh combined victory on the year, as Sebastian Job holds five wins, as well as the points lead, with only one event remaining on the calendar. Team Redline’s Diogo Pinto is the only other driver still mathematically in contention for the championship, 38 points behind Job.

SPRINT RACE: By virtue of Kuitert’s first TAG Heuer Pole Award at Imola, Sebastian Job was crowned the 2024 TAG Heuer Pole Award champion having already scored three poles in the opening three rounds. Job started second while Pinto rounded out the top three.

Imola hasn’t seen a PESC schedule since 2021, so naturally, the opening laps of the Sprint were filled with contact. The top drivers all solved themselves into order, but outside the top 10, drivers clawed for spots, often resulting in scrapes and broken parts.

Kuitert led the way from the drop of the green. Job kept close, as did Pinto, but Kuitert held on for his first career victory. In the battle for the invert, Webster held off Yohann Harth.

Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Sprint top 10 results from Imola were as follows:

  1. Sam Kuitert
  2. Sebastian Job
  3. Diogo C. Pinto
  4. Chris Lulham
  5. Jordan Caruso
  6. Alessandro Bico
  7. Gustavo Ariel
  8. Cooper Webster
  9. Yohann Harth
  10. Alejandro Sánchez

FEATURE RACE: The Feature race started much calmer than the Sprint. VRS Coanda’s Zac Campbell was dinged with a jump start, ruining his chances at a decent points day. Webster led the way, while the leaders from the Sprint began to work through the traffic.

Kuitert and Pinto seemed stuck where they started, but Job was on a mission for spots. Job leapfrogged Pinto on the opening lap to take sixth. A few laps later, a struggling Alessandro Bico fell into his clutches, elevating Job to fifth. Both Pinto and Kuitert, as well as Alejandro Sánchez, were able to pass the Williams Esports driver, who ultimately finished ninth after starting in third, but that would be it for all three of them.

Next for Job, he passed Chris Lulham for fourth. A lap later, Altus Esports’ Jordan Caruso slipped in a chicane to allow Job to take third. For a time, he was right there, shadowing Webster and Ariel for the top spot. In an instant, Webster metaphorically kicked on the afterburners and drove away to claim the win. Ariel held on for second while Job settled for third.

Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup results from Imola were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts.
1 1 37 Cooper Webster 16 0.000 16 1:42.178 63
2 2 12 Gustavo Ariel 16 -1.470 0 1:42.038 59
3 7 22 Sebastian Job 16 -1.610 0 1:41.708 70
4 5 20 Chris Lulham 16 -6.181 0 1:42.112 57
5 4 1 Jordan Caruso 16 -6.602 0 1:42.451 50
6 6 44 Diogo C. Pinto 16 -6.982 0 1:42.611 57
7 8 28 Sam Kuitert 16 -7.236 0 1:42.063 63
8 10 47 Alejandro Sánchez 16 -7.754 0 1:41.906 37
9 3 77 Alessandro Bico 16 -9.093 0 1:42.045 39
10 9 90 Yohann Harth 16 -11.371 0 1:42.386 38
11 11 13 Dino Lombardi 16 -12.567 0 1:42.320 30
12 13 96 Luke McKeown 16 -13.086 0 1:42.459 26
13 15 3 Kevin Nielsen 16 -16.606 0 1:42.557 22
14 17 57 Mathias Stokbæk Jensen 16 -19.591 0 1:42.585 18
15 19 4 Salva Talens 16 -19.672 0 1:42.655 14
16 22 5 Oskari Rinne 16 -21.541 0 1:42.109 10
17 21 43 Josh Thompson 16 -22.001 0 1:42.788 9
18 18 92 Michael Janney 16 -27.340 0 1:43.048 11
19 16 24 Lasse Bak 16 -27.881 0 1:42.948 12
20 26 16 Luca Kita 16 -28.242 0 1:42.727 6
21 27 69 Moreno Sirica 16 -28.458 0 1:42.606 5
22 24 40 Julien Soenen 16 -29.032 0 1:42.970 4
23 14 29 Jakub Maciejewski 16 -30.612 0 1:43.023 10
24 20 54 Oscar Py 16 -33.934 0 1:42.991 3
25 29 11 Matti Sipilä 16 -34.294 0 1:43.143 1
26 23 27 Simone Maria Marcenò 16 -37.498 0 1:43.116 0
27 25 95 Parker White 16 -37.638 0 1:43.160 0
28 12 15 Zac Campbell 16 -49.534 0 1:43.170 9
29 28 8 Bryn Collins 1 DNF 0 ——— 0

Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup points through Round 6 are as follows:

  1. Sebastian Job, 413
  2. Diogo C. Pinto, 375
  3. Luke McKeown, 277
  4. Yohann Harth, 270
  5. Jordan Caruso, 264
  6. Cooper Webster, 262
  7. Alejandro Sánchez, 258
  8. Gustavo Ariel, 238
  9. Alessandro Bico, 224
  10. Zac Campbell, 217

To say it’s been a dominant year for the combined Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing and Team Redline efforts would be spot on. Through the 11 combined Sprint and Feature races in 2024, the alliance holds eight victories, the other three belonging to Luke McKeown and Alejandro Sánchez from the Apex Racing Team/Stormforce Racing alliance. In points, they hold six of the top 12 spots, adding in Lulham on the Verstappen.com Racing team.

Following Imola, Job’s points lead increased for the first time in three events. While next week’s finale at Monza features Feature-level points in the Sprint, increasing the available points to 110 from the usual 85, the Imola results have left two drivers with a chance at winning a second title—Job and Pinto. Pinto has yet to win, but his consistency has been on par with his title winning season in 2022, a title-winning season where he only had one Sprint race win.

ALL-STARS: Featuring the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) for the first time this season, the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup All-Stars took on the curves and straights at Imola for their penultimate battle of the season as well. Two weeks ago, it was Ayhancan Guven beating up on the normal slate of drivers. This time around, two Porsche drivers in Laurin Heinrich and Bastian Buus showed up for the fun.

The two took the front row in the Sprint, and up until the final corner, it seemed like they would finish in those exact spots. While Heinrich pulled away for the easy victory, Buus battled against The Pulpo Lopez for the runner-up spot. On the final lap, they made contact, sending Buus back to eighth while Lopez took a runner-up spot. Casey Kirwan, the points leader and defending series champion, was also in the mix for a runner-up before he spun out and fell back to finish in seventh.

After the full-field invert for the Feature, Borja Zazo led the way. Daniel Gray made his way up into the lead a few laps later as the field began to un-invert. As Zazo fell to fourth, both Quirkitized and Dan Suzuki made their way into the podium positions. Quirk gave Gray a run for the win, but Gray held on for his first All-Stars victory. Kirwan struggled again, finishing eighth. While Lopez finished 10th in the Feature, he gained on Kirwan for the points title, now only separated by 15 points entering the Monza finale next week.

Porsche TAG Heuer Esports All-Stars Sprint results from Imola were as follows:

  1. Laurin Heinrich
  2. The Pulpo Lopez
  3. Sampsoid
  4. Emree
  5. LoveFortySix

Porsche TAG Heuer Esports All-Stars Feature results from Imola were as follows:

  1. Daniel Gray
  2. Dan Suzuki
  3. Quirkitized
  4. Borja Zazo
  5. Grizzle

Porsche TAG Heuer Esports All-Stars points through Round 6 are as follows:

  1. Casey Kirwan, 197
  2. The Pulpo Lopez, 182
  3. Quirkitized, 154
  4. Daniel Gray, 120
  5. Sampsoid, 118

The 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season concludes this weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on April 6th. Coverage begins on Saturday at 18:00 GMT (2PM ET) with the Porsche All-Stars kicking off the show in their third and final vehicle of the season, the Porsche 911 GT3 R. After the All-Stars, the Supercup begins at 19:00 GMT (3PM ET).

For more information on the 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer 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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