Since the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup turned its first competitive laps two years ago, Mitchell deJong has been looked out one of the standout drivers in the series. However, the American veteran of multiple iRacing World Championships also spent quite a while carrying the moniker of the series’ best driver not to win a feature race.
That all changed on Saturday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Just one week after a last-lap incident with Kevin Ellis Jr. at Road Atlanta that ended with neither of them taking the victory, deJong held off the Interlagos winner to take the checkered flag by just .165 seconds. The long-awaited victory came at a track where deJong had almost won two years ago, and allowed him to gain valuable points on championship leader Joshua Rogers—the same driver who defeated him here in the closing laps of 2019—in the process.
Rogers kicked off the proceedings by winning the feature, taking the lead early from top qualifier and promising rookie Zac Campbell and holding off fellow former series champion Sebastian Job by just over a second. deJong, who had qualified ninth, benefitted from the eight-car invert between the 10-lap sprint race and 20-lap feature by taking the pivotal eighth place result. From there, he led all 20 laps
Tuomas Tahtela scored a breakthrough podium in third place as the podium was separated by just under half a second, while Campbell and series veteran Graham Carroll completed the top five. The first two series champions faced off for sixth, with Job nipping Rogers at the line for the spot.
Prior to the world’s top sim racers taking to the track, the weekly All-Star race between pro drivers, celebrities, and major Twitch streamers featured some thrilling battles of its own. Top qualifier Dan Suzuki and Emily “Emree” Jones fought hard in the sprint race for the win, with Emree taking the top spot, but it was real-world pro Laurens Vanthoor who beat both to the checkered flag in the main event.
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup feature results from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve were as follows:
Fin. | St. | No. | Driver | Laps | Interval | Led | Best | Pts. |
| 1 | 1 | 24 | Mitchell deJong | 20 | 20 | 1:37.312 | 63 | |
| 2 | 3 | 30 | Kevin Ellis Jr | 20 | -0.159 | 0 | 1:37.332 | 60 |
| 3 | 2 | 107 | Tuomas Tähtelä | 20 | -0.465 | 0 | 1:37.156 | 54 |
| 4 | 6 | 15 | Zac Campbell | 20 | -3.895 | 0 | 1:37.364 | 67 |
| 5 | 12 | 8 | Graham Carroll | 20 | -9.901 | 0 | 1:37.625 | 43 |
| 6 | 7 | 1 | Sebastian Job | 20 | -12.490 | 0 | 1:37.633 | 57 |
| 7 | 8 | 92 | Joshua K Rogers | 20 | -12.542 | 0 | 1:36.980 | 61 |
| 8 | 5 | 47 | Alejandro Sánchez | 20 | -13.007 | 0 | 1:37.461 | 44 |
| 9 | 19 | 99 | Mikkel Gade | 20 | -16.952 | 0 | 1:37.726 | 26 |
| 10 | 24 | 04 | Salva Talens | 20 | -17.268 | 0 | 1:37.559 | 22 |
| 11 | 32 | 69 | Moreno Sirica | 20 | -18.302 | 0 | 1:37.410 | 20 |
| 12 | 28 | 49 | Jamie Fluke | 20 | -19.124 | 0 | 1:37.701 | 24 |
| 13 | 21 | 31 | David Williams | 20 | -19.174 | 0 | 1:37.450 | 16 |
| 14 | 22 | 729 | Maxim Ramsteijn | 20 | -20.280 | 0 | 1:37.791 | 14 |
| 15 | 26 | 43 | Brian Lockwood | 20 | -20.351 | 0 | 1:37.478 | 12 |
| 16 | 14 | 121 | Diogo C. Pinto | 20 | -20.552 | 0 | 1:37.476 | 17 |
| 17 | 20 | 51 | Josh Thompson | 20 | -21.407 | 0 | 1:37.538 | 10 |
| 18 | 23 | 911 | Ayhancan Guven | 20 | -21.910 | 0 | 1:37.810 | 8 |
| 19 | 9 | 58 | Tommy Østgaard | 20 | -22.202 | 0 | 1:37.467 | 19 |
| 20 | 15 | 7 | Jeff Giassi | 20 | -23.919 | 0 | 1:37.687 | 12 |
| 21 | 34 | 93 | Charlie Collins | 20 | -24.761 | 0 | 1:37.431 | 5 |
| 22 | 35 | 90 | Yohann Harth | 20 | -29.861 | 0 | 1:37.784 | 4 |
| 23 | 36 | 13 | Alexander Wolters | 20 | -30.147 | 0 | 1:37.786 | 3 |
| 24 | 25 | 5 | Martin Krönke | 20 | -30.485 | 0 | 1:37.729 | 2 |
| 25 | 13 | 77 | Jeremy Bouteloup | 20 | -30.997 | 0 | 1:37.544 | 9 |
| 26 | 30 | 50 | Ricardo Rico | 20 | -39.014 | 0 | 1:37.701 | 0 |
| 27 | 29 | 28 | Carlos Fenollosa | 13 | -7 L | 0 | 1:38.152 | 0 |
| 28 | 18 | 312 | Daniel Lafuente | 10 | -10 L | 0 | 1:37.575 | 3 |
| 29 | 16 | 211 | Thibault Cazaubon | 8 | -12 L | 0 | 1:37.825 | 5 |
| 30 | 33 | 10 | Jack Sedgwick | 5 | -15 L | 0 | 1:37.825 | 0 |
| 31 | 31 | 12 | Alexander Thiebe | 4 | -16 L | 0 | 1:38.071 | 0 |
| 32 | 4 | 57 | Dayne Warren | 4 | -16 L | 0 | 18 | |
| 33 | 10 | 11 | Maximilian Benecke | 2 | -18 L | 0 | 11 | |
| 34 | 11 | 18 | Sindre Setsaas | 1 | -19 L | 0 | 10 | |
| 35 | 17 | 119 | Pekka Tuomainen | 0 | -20 L | 0 | 4 | |
| 36 | 27 | 33 | Ricardo Castro Ledo | 0 | -20 L | 0 | 0 |
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup points after six rounds are as follows:
- Joshua Rogers, 409
- Mitchell deJong, 322
- Kevin Ellis Jr., 281
- Sebastian Job, 257
- Charlie Collins, 227
- Dayne Warren, 219
- Maximilian Benecke, 207
- Graham Carroll, 204
- Alejandro Sanchez, 189
- Zac Campbell, 186
The Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season is off until March 13, when the championship will make its return to the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Job is the defending winner from the Belgian circuit. As always, coverage kicks off at 1PM ET with the All-Star action, and continues with the sim racing pros at 2PM ET. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
All-Star Race image via Justin Prince
