The Porsche Coanda Esports works team secured the title with second place in the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans. Joshua Rogers, Mitchell deJong, Ayhancan Güven and Laurin Heinrich were only 21 seconds behind the winner despite several setbacks. Their teammates in the #23 LMP race car finished sixth.

The Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team has won the virtual Le Mans Series 2022/2023. Works drivers Joshua Rogers (Australia) and Mitchell deJong (USA) finished second in the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans together with former Porsche Juniors Ayhancan Güven (Turkey) and Laurin Heinrich (Germany). The quartet crossed the finish line on the digital Circuit des 24 Heures just 21.1 seconds behind the winning Redline LMP2 car, despite two drive-through penalties and time losses through no fault of their own due to server connection problems. This result was enough for the number 20 car of the Porsche Coanda factory team to take the lead in the fifth and final championship round on the rFactor 2 simulation platform. In the sister car, Mack Bakkum (Netherlands), Dayne Warren (Australia), Morris Schuring (Netherlands) and the new Porsche Junior Bastian Buus (Denmark) also had to contend with unfortunate setbacks over the course of the race. After 24 hours, they came in sixth.

“The virtual Le Mans series is one of the most prestigious championships in sim racing – seen from that perspective, winning the title is amazing for us. It shows how hard we worked over a season that started out a bit difficult for us at the beginning,” emphasizes Philip Stamm, Team Principal Porsche Coanda Esports Racing. “Of course it's a shame to finish second at the end of a 24-hour race with a deficit of almost 20 seconds. But we are at the beginning of a new year and hope that many more great results will follow.”

The virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans was the climax and conclusion of the virtual Le Mans racing series. Special feature of this championship: At the wheel of the digital racing car, seasoned professionals from real motorsport take turns with simracing experts.

Both Porsche Coanda racing cars started from the front row
The Porsche sim racing factory team was able to demonstrate its competitiveness in qualifying on Friday evening: Joshua Rogers set a commanding best time and was almost three-quarters of a second ahead of the second-placed. The Australian, like his teammate Mack Bakkum in the second Porsche Coanda racing car, made it into the hyperpole session of the fastest six. There, the two ensured an optimal starting position for the 24-hour race: Rogers took pole position, Bakkum took the place next to him on the front row of the grid.

The race got off to a turbulent start on Saturday at 2 p.m.: With an ambitious maneuver in the first chicane, reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen was initially able to take the lead. Starting driver Laurin Heinrich maintained second position with the number 20, Porsche Supercup driver Morris Schuring finished fourth. A little later, Heinrich corrected this order again and took the lead. After a good 3.5 hours in the race, the sister car suffered a setback through no fault of its own: a technical problem decoupled Dayne Warren from the server. The number 23 race car initially fell back to 23rd place, but later received a time bonus of 250 seconds. He returned to the top 10 and the same round of the top group as a result. Further server problems on the simulation platform led to longer race interruptions in the early evening. From 9:30 p.m., the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans resumed regular operations.

The night presented the number 20 with special challenges. Ayhancan Güven came under pressure from the two team Redline cars but defended his lead lap after lap with his hands and feet. There was also slight contact between the racing cars. At around 11:30 p.m., the Porsche Junior from 2020 and 2021 had to serve a pit drive-through penalty for this. It threw Güven back to ninth position. Almost two hours later, the car, meanwhile in the hands of Laurin Heinrich, moved up to second position again. However, due to an “unsafe release” during the following pit stop, race control imposed another drive-through penalty on car number 20. Heinrich returned to the track in sixth place and the race to catch up began again.

But the streak of bad luck didn't end there. At daybreak, both Porsche Coanda racers and others experienced server problems again. They increased the gap to the leaders to over two minutes. But the competition wasn't spared either: Shortly before 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, Max Verstappen's leading car fell behind and then 90 minutes later completely dropped out. A good four hours before the end, the number 20 was back in second place, while the number 23 was fourth, a minute behind. A good two hours before the end of the race, she received a drive-through penalty for exceeding the track limits and finished sixth. Thanks to an ambitious comeback, especially in the last two hours, Rogers, deJong, Güven and Heinrich still halve their gap to the number 2 of the Redline team, but cannot completely catch up. The second position jumped out for her.

Strong performance by Proton Coanda Esports in the GTE class went unrewarded
Six digital Porsche 911 RSR took on the 24-hour challenge in the GTE category. As the best participant, the racing car from Project 1 by Dörr Esports reached the finish line in fourth place after 322 laps. The Hungarian Norbert Kiss and his German teammates Marc Gassner, Moritz Löhner, and Leonard Krippner were one lap behind the class winner. Raoul Hyman (South Africa), Alexander Tauscher (Germany), Bryn Collins (Great Britain) and Dutchman Kevin van Dooren claimed fourth position with the number 88 Proton Coanda Esports car despite an accident and a 90-second break for repairs. The 911 RSR from Oracle Red Bull Racing finished the virtual 24-hour race in tenth place in its class. Proton Coanda's second car had to retire at 2:00 in the morning due to a defect.

Quotes after the race
Mitchell deJong (Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team #20): “We end the season as champions, but of course we also wanted to win 'Le Mans'. Still, it was a good race for us. It went back and forth, I'm thinking mainly of the penalties that were imposed on us. But we kept fighting as a team. In the end we were able to reduce the gap to 21 seconds – so it was really close. At the end of the day, it was only enough for second place today.”

Laurin Heinrich (Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team #20):“It was a very, very long and mentally demanding race – also because of the red flag interruptions. A very interesting dynamic has developed from this, from which some have benefited more and others less. That's not always in your hands. Nevertheless, I am very satisfied with the result. We were able to take second place today and thus also win the championship. That's worth a lot too. We were actually always the fastest car on the track. But to win a 24-hour race, you also need the necessary amount of luck.”

Mack Bakkum (Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team #23):“Obviously we are disappointed with how things turned out in the end. We lost a lot of time without being able to do anything about it. That's always annoying. Everyone had problems, some more affected than others. I'm really very proud of the team and how we worked together. That's the most important thing in the end. Hopefully we can do a better race next year.”

Bastian Buus (Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team #23):“Porsche Coanda Esports really put a lot of work into this project - even more than I expected anyway. It was great to be a part of it and to learn from it. Looking to the future, I'm sure that I can benefit from the long-distance experience I've gained here in the real world as well. Of course, the result was a bit unfortunate. A few things that were out of our hands prevented us from delivering a better result. All four of us did a very good job as drivers. So my conclusion is: It could have gone better, but it could also have gone much worse.”

Result
1. Bennett/Drugovich/Lulham/Rosenqvist (UK/BR/S), Team Redline #2, 356 laps
2. DeJong/Güven/Heinrich/Rogers (USA/TR/D/AUS), Porsche Coanda Esports #20, -21.109 seconds
6. Bakkum/Buus/Schuring/Warren (NL/DK/NL/AUS), Porsche Coanda Esports #23, -2:49.418 minutes

Result GTE class
1. Andonovski/Andrews/Jajovski/Smolyar (MKD/AUS/MKD/RAF), R8G Esports #888, Ferrari 488 GTE, 323 laps
4. Gassner/Kiss/Krippner/ Löhner (D/H/D/D), Project 1 by Dörr Esports #11, Porsche 911 RSR, 322 laps
5. B. Collins/Hyman/Tauscher/van Dooren (UK/ZA/D/NL), Proton Coanda Esports #88, Porsche 911 RSR, 322 laps
10 Conwright/Jordan/Kasdorp/Stevenson (USA/D/NL/UK), Oracle Red Bull Racing #99, Porsche 911 RSR, 320 laps
11 Li/Li/Lu/Lobato (VRC/VRC/VRC/P), Inspeed Racing #25, Porsche 911 RSR, 319 laps