The Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team finished the second race of the ESL R1 season on fourth place. Mitchell de Jong represented the works team in the top-twelve finale. His teammates Charlie Collins from Great Britain and reigning champion Joshua Rogers from Australia had also qualified for the semi-finals but narrowly missed out on a spot in the final. After two of three races, Porsche Coanda Esports Racing remains in fourth place in the ESL R1 team standings.

The ESL R1 series on the “Rennsport” sim racing platform comprises six rounds. Three of them count towards the drivers’ championship, the other half towards the team championship, which was the case at the season opener a week ago at the digital Daytona International Speedway. The races on Friday evening took place on the new ‘Orchard Road’ street circuit in Singapore. The format remains largely unchanged from last year: The twelve participating teams will each send one of their four drivers to the four quarter-final races. The six best-placed drivers qualify for the two semi-finals, from which the top six drivers in each qualify for the final. In Singapore, both heats on the 3.2-kilometre Orchard Road were contested over 13 laps.

DeJong, Collins and Rogers were the three of four works drivers from the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team to qualify for the semi-finals. Rogers catapulted from second on the grid to claim a commanding victory. His Australian teammate Dayne Warren, on the other hand, was hit by bad luck: a collision through no fault of his own immediately after the start of the first quarter-final robbed him of any chance of progressing.

The semi-final proved to be challenging for Collins and Rogers. The former had to start from the last grid spot after a fruitless qualifying lap and advanced to seventh place. Rogers started second on the grid but fell back in the chaos of the start. After making up ground to sixth place, a subsequent three-second penalty dropped him back to eighth place.

Impressions after the race
Jörn Jens (D, Performance Coach Porsche Coanda Esports Racing): “The races on the Orchard Road circuit turned out to be as chaotic as we’d anticipated. That was a disadvantage for us, we lacked a bit of luck today. I believe more would’ve been possible for us. Mitchell DeJong, however, brought home a great result. That should give the whole team a motivational boost for the next races.”

Mitchell deJong (USA, Porsche Coanda Esports Racing): “I was on my own in the final, which meant I couldn’t rely on any help from my teammates. My qualifying session went well and I started in sixth place. It was pretty hectic after the start but I quickly found a decent rhythm and managed to put pressure on the guys in front of me. I’m happy with fourth place, that earns us valuable points.”

Orchard Road (SG), Result of the final
1. Maximilian Benecke, BMW M4 GT3 (D, Mouz)
2. Erhan Jajovski, Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II (NMK, Team Vitality R8G Esports)
3. Luke Bennett, BMW M4 GT3 (UK, Team Redline)
4. Mitchell de Jong, Porsche 911 GT3 R (USA, Porsche Coanda Esports Racing)

Team standings after two of three races
1. Team Redline, 337 points
2. Vitality R8G Esports, 231 points
3. Williams Esports, 212 points
4. Porsche Coanda Esports Racing, 207 points

Complete results and standings:
https://eslr1.com/fall23-2/

ESL R1 – Brief overview
• The unofficial sim racing premier class is contested on the “Rennsport” platform.
• The cars fielded are based on GT3 regulations, including the 911 GT3 R.
• Like in real-life racing, the Balance of Performance (BoP) ensures a level playing field.
• 12 teams consisting of 4 drivers each compete in a team and driver championship.
• The drivers qualify for the final live event through the online events.
• 500,000 US dollars in prize money up for grabs in ESL R1 and Esports World Cup.
• The Porsche Motorsport Hub offers more information about the series.