Josh Rogers Scores Third Porsche Esports Supercup Win of 2019 at Nurburgring

Josh Rogers led an Australian sweep of the top two positions in Saturday’s Porsche Esports Supercup event from the Nurburgring, climbing from eighth on the grid in the sprint race to first in the feature after passing countryman and sprint race winner Jarrad Filsell for the lead in the Arena section of the track with ten minutes remaining. The win was Rogers’ third of the season, making him the first driver to accomplish the feat in 2019 and further extending his championship lead.

“All in all, it was good for the championship,” Rogers said of his victory. “(The Arena) was one of the more challenging sections, because I felt like I was strong in the slower corners, so it was very challenging to make sure I could still set up the exit. It was quite easy to defend in that section just by slowing up on the apex, so trying to get those runs off the corner was a bit more challenging.”

Rogers lined up eighth to start the 15-minute sprint after posting the top time in qualifying, while Filsell and Alejandro Sanchez scored the first two spots on the grid and rode them to a 1-2 finish in the primary race. Rogers finished seventh, just behind fellow championship rivals Mitchell deJong in fifth and Sebastian Job in sixth, while Maximilian Benecke, who entered the weekend just nine points back of Rogers for the championship lead, finished 16th to start mid-pack for the feature.

A wild start to the main event saw Sanchez get off the line quicker, but he missed the braking point to the first corner and Filsell regained the top spot. The resulting accordion effect sent a number of top cars back through the field, setting the tone for one of the most intense feature races of the season.

Rogers sliced his way through the field, getting up to third before challenging Job for second. Unfortunately, contact from Rogers sent Job spinning, prematurely ending his pursuit of a second straight victory after winning in Silverstone two weeks ago. Five minutes later, Rogers made the pass on Filsell in the first corner and checked out on the way to victory. deJong completed the podium.

“I’ve been a bit under the weather physically, so to come away with second and some good points, I’ll take that any day of the week,” said Filsell. “I just wanted points, to be honest, after my shambolic effort at Silverstone. I wasn’t really interested in battling Josh to the death, I was really happy just to finish on the podium.”

“Honestly, I’m pretty happy with that. It was a pretty intense race the entire time. Qualifying went well, but with the format the way it is, it makes us really have to fight to get back and I did my best to minimize it. I took advantage of some bad luck from others and was happy with the pace, so third feels really good.”

Porsche Esports Supercup points through eight of 10 rounds are as follows:

1. Josh Rogers, 803
2. Maximilian Benecke, 716
3. Mitchell deJong, 682
4. Sebastian Job, 644
5. Jarrad Filsell, 628
6. Patrik Holzmann, 607
7. Martin Kronke, 558
8. Graham Carroll, 496
9. Jamie Fluke, 492
10. Jeremy Bouteloup, 488

The Porsche Esports Supercup takes a break through the month of August before returning to action on September 14 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. As always, the race can be streamed live at 10AM ET on the iRacing eSports Network on Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube.

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