The fourth round of the iRacing-based Porsche Esports Supercup at Silverstone proved to be a scrappy affair as the series edged closer to divvying up the $200,000 prize fund.
Mitchell deJong became the third different driver this season to take pole position and take the maximum 10 bonus points for setting the fastest time in qualifying.
Dayne Warren was second with defending champion Sebastian Job in third, while 2019 champion and current championship leader Josh Rogers started the race in 6th, missing out on qualifying points.
At the start, Rogers passed fellow Coanda Simsport drivers Charlie Collins and Tommy Ostgaard with minimum difficulty before he caught up to the back of Job’s car.
A mistake by the Red Bull Esports driver, locking up under braking, caused him to run wide at Stowe and allowed Rogers to move up to third place.
Before the end of the seven-lap race Rogers gained one more position and was able to close down the gap to race leader deJong to under one second, but ran out of laps to take the victory.
Having finished on the podium twice previously this season, deJong took his first race win and so started the double-length feature race from eighth place.
The reversal of the top eight meant Job’s fourth place – behind Rogers and Warren – became fifth on the starting grid for the second race, placing him ahead of his nearest championship rivals.
Job initially fought his way up to first place within three laps, before Ostgaard tried to reclaim the position as he ran side by side with Job at the final complex of corners.
Rounding the last corner Ostgaard had the inside line but at the exit of the corner he moved across to take the racing line and tangled with Job.
Ostgaard’s car went into the barrier while Job lost time due to the contact and being forced out wide, dropping from first to third as Mack Bakkum and Rogers got by.
Both past champions were able to clear Bakkum and it became clear that the first place in the feature race was going to go to either Rogers or Job.
Despite his earlier setbacks it was Job who came out on top, even though he hadn’t been able to pull away from the Australian and had to defend from him throughout the second half of the race.
#PESC – "Rogers and Job side-by-side!"
They're the BEST sim racers in the world, and this is why! An incredible finish at Silverstone in the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup.@PorscheRaces | @TAGHeuer pic.twitter.com/FzJoNqhUaS
— iRacing.com (@iRacing) February 6, 2021
Bakkum held on to third, while Graham Carroll, who as a Red Bull Esports driver proved to act as an effective rear gunner for Job, crossed the line in fourth and ahead of Coanda drivers Collins and deJong.
Despite the varied results across qualifying and both races, the championship point gaps between the main title protagonists hardly changed.
Rogers still leads the standings with 265 points, and he extended his tally over deJong by one point to 38.
The feature race win for Job promoted him up from seventh to third in the standings, but only marginally reduced his deficit to Rogers from 89 to 82 points.
