It was all Red Bull Racing Esports in the season opener of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup on Saturday, as a trio of the team’s drivers found themselves up front in the 2020 season opener from Circuit Park Zandvoort. Patrik Holzmann landed on the first spot on the front row through qualifying, while Graham Carroll won the opening sprint race and Sebastian Job took the checkered flag in the 30-minute feature.
The first race of a radically redesigned 2020 series calendar, Zandvoort ushered in a new era for the series, featuring an expanded prize pool, new sponsorship, and a host of talented newcomers behind the wheel that would challenge returning drivers like Job, Carroll, Mitchell deJong, Max Benecke, and defending series champion Joshua Rogers. Rogers and Jeff Giassi, the top driver to advance from this year’s qualifying series, would qualify first and second, though the eight-car inversion would advance Holzmann to the top spot.
Holzmann suffered immediate issues off of the start, but Carroll took over immediately and led all 10 laps in the sprint race and beat Tommy Ostgaard to the line. In the feature, Ostgaard finally wrestled the top spot away from Carroll on Lap 2, but it was Job who put the team back in front for good on Lap 11. Carroll would fight his way back to second, while Rogers would complete the podium ahead of Ostgaard and series newcomer Brian Lockwood.
The action opened with the Porsche Esports Sprint Challenge, as Simone Maria Marceno topped the drivers who earned the right to race in the Super Session preceding the main show. Zandvoort was also the home event for Max Verstappen, the real-world Red Bull Racing Formula 1 star who will contest the series this year after qualifying for the championship with Team Redline. Verstappen finished midpack in the sprint race before clawing his way to a respectable 11th in the feature round.
Results from Saturday’s Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup feature at Circuit Park Zandvoort were as follows:
Fin. | St. | No. | Driver | Laps | Interval | Led | Best | Pts. |
| 1 | 5 | 22 | Sebastian Job | 19 | 0 | 9 | 1:37.088 | 72 |
| 2 | 1 | 21 | Graham Carroll | 19 | -2.227 | 1 | 1:37.325 | 70 |
| 3 | 4 | 92 | Joshua K Rogers | 19 | -2.93 | 0 | 1:37.246 | 68 |
| 4 | 2 | 58 | Tommy Østgaard | 19 | -4.194 | 9 | 1:37.034 | 59 |
| 5 | 3 | 43 | Brian Lockwood | 19 | -4.451 | 0 | 1:37.317 | 56 |
| 6 | 9 | 49 | Jamie Fluke | 19 | -6.814 | 0 | 1:37.335 | 43 |
| 7 | 7 | 57 | Dayne Warren | 19 | -7.324 | 0 | 1:37.342 | 46 |
| 8 | 8 | 47 | Alejandro Sánchez | 19 | -7.827 | 0 | 1:37.323 | 39 |
| 9 | 12 | 16 | Mack Bakkum | 19 | -8.227 | 0 | 1:37.370 | 33 |
| 10 | 13 | 23 | Aleksi Uusi-Jaakkola | 19 | -9.013 | 0 | 1:37.426 | 30 |
| 11 | 21 | 69 | Max Verstappen | 19 | -11.237 | 0 | 1:37.271 | 20 |
| 12 | 16 | 211 | Thibault Cazaubon | 19 | -12.092 | 0 | 1:37.411 | 23 |
| 13 | 14 | 3 | Sindre Setsaas | 19 | -12.516 | 0 | 1:37.345 | 23 |
| 14 | 17 | 66 | Greger Huttu | 19 | -12.821 | 0 | 1:37.240 | 18 |
| 15 | 18 | 24 | Mitchell deJong | 19 | -15.591 | 0 | 1:37.377 | 15 |
| 16 | 22 | 12 | Marcus Jensen | 19 | -16.487 | 0 | 1:37.495 | 10 |
| 17 | 28 | 98 | Kevin Ellis Jr | 19 | -16.69 | 0 | 1:37.387 | 9 |
| 18 | 31 | 10 | Jack Sedgwick | 19 | -18.582 | 0 | 1:37.521 | 8 |
| 19 | 20 | 77 | Valtteri Alander | 19 | -20.703 | 0 | 1:37.446 | 8 |
| 20 | 11 | 5 | Martin Krönke | 19 | -21.208 | 0 | 1:37.456 | 16 |
| 21 | 30 | 28 | Alexander Thiebe | 19 | -21.695 | 0 | 1:37.342 | 5 |
| 22 | 35 | 36 | Joshua W Anderson | 19 | -24.487 | 0 | 1:37.633 | 4 |
| 23 | 27 | 2 | Jeremy Bouteloup | 19 | -24.769 | 0 | 1:37.556 | 3 |
| 24 | 26 | 42 | Matti Kaidesoja | 19 | -25.074 | 0 | 1:37.275 | 2 |
| 25 | 39 | 107 | Tuomas Tähtelä | 19 | -25.645 | 0 | 1:37.534 | 1 |
| 26 | 38 | 14 | Marc Perez | 19 | -28.046 | 0 | 1:37.554 | 0 |
| 27 | 37 | 11 | Maximilian Benecke | 19 | -28.813 | 0 | 1:37.455 | 0 |
| 28 | 40 | 4 | Marin S Colak | 19 | -34.41 | 0 | 1:37.486 | 0 |
| 29 | 33 | 29 | Carl E Jansson | 19 | -36.004 | 0 | 1:37.925 | 0 |
| 30 | 15 | 110 | Christopher Dambietz | 17 | -2 L | 0 | 1:37.410 | 6 |
| 31 | 6 | 7 | Jeff Giassi | 15 | -4 L | 0 | 1:37.307 | 23 |
| 32 | 25 | 83 | Bobby Zalenski | 14 | -5 L | 0 | 1:38.003 | 0 |
| 33 | 32 | 71 | Jonas Wallmeier | 7 | -12 L | 0 | 1:40.241 | 0 |
| 34 | 29 | 94 | Jarrad Filsell | 6 | -13 L | 0 | 1:38.389 | 0 |
| 35 | 24 | 70 | Gianni Vecchio | 5 | -14 L | 0 | 1:37.651 | 0 |
| 36 | 23 | 31 | David Williams | 3 | -16 L | 0 | 1:45.414 | 0 |
| 37 | 19 | 18 | Antoine Higelin | 1 | -18 L | 0 | 2 | |
| 38 | 10 | 33 | Ricardo Castro Ledo | 1 | -18 L | 0 | 11 | |
| 39 | 36 | 27 | Patrik Holzmann | 1 | -18 L | 0 | 0 | |
| 40 | 34 | 90 | Yohann Harth | 0 | -19 L | 0 | 0 |
The Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup continues a busy month of May with events at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on May 9 and Donington on May 23. Races will stream at 14:00 GMT (10AM ET) on the iRacing eSports Network. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
