Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Qualifying Series mid-season report: deJong leads veterans aiming to return to top level

With the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup returning for its seventh season in 2025, the process to earn a spot into the top-ranked Sports Car series begins with its representative Qualifying series. The racing began on July 13th, a six-race schedule encompassing many of the tracks found on the schedule of the main series.

Heading into this weekend, half of the season is in the rearview. Nearly 200 drivers have attempted at least one race over the three-week span, with most of the participation coming in the first week at Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg. Across all three weeks thus far, the top-two splits have all been impressively packed with many familiar hopefuls, some of the best to ever do it mixed in with some fast up and comers.

This series utilizes the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992), and so far, Hockenheim, Silverstone, and the Red Bull Ring are done and dusted. This weekend features racing at the classic version of Watkins Glen, with the Nürburgring GP and Imola rounding out the calendar. Races take place on Saturdays at 18:45 GMT, and a driver’s top five out of six scores will determine their eligibility to advance to the Contender Series, where they’ll compete against Supercup drivers from the 2024 season for a chance at a spot on the 2025 grid.

Leading the standings is Mitchell deJong, a former iRacing eSports World Champion in Rallycross. Up until the end of the 2021 season, deJong was a mainstay in the Supercup Series, collecting four wins over that span, finishing as high as second in his final season. Behind him is the young Xander Reed, looking to advance back to the Contender Series for the second year in a row.

2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Qualifying Series points through Race #3 at Red Bull Ring are as follows:

It’s an interesting dynamic with how the series works that those two would be on top. With zero victories, but all three finishes in the top-five in the top split races, deJong’s consistency has him in front as of now and in a great position to move up the ladder. Reed, on the other hand, is dominant in the second split thus far, winning the first two races after leading every lap.

The most recent event at the Red Bull Ring was a slightly lower Strength of Field (SoF) for the second split, and on top of that, Reed only mustered up seventh place finish. Had Reed won a third straight race in the second split, there’s a good chance that he’d be leading the overall standings thus far. Points are awarded based on SoF calculations, so because both the top two splits are so high, the points scored are still fairly close.

Besides deJong, there are many more former Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup drivers that are fighting to get back in. Look no lower than sixth in the current standings, and you’ll find one of the most decorated drivers in series history, Joshua Rogers. The 2019 and 2021 series champion, Rogers was also absent from the series in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Rogers took his talents to victory lane in the most recent top split race, at the Red Bull Ring, leading every lap in the process.

In short, it looks as if a lot of the old guard is heading back towards a seat on the 2025 roster. There are still three more races left to determine who will get a chance to take on those relegated. These races are open to anyone with a Class A sports car license, or a Class B with at least a 4.00 safety rating.

For more information on the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup, visit www.iracing.com/pesc. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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