Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Race Preview: Barcelona

Image via Justin Melillo

The Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup continues its fourth season with its second event of the year, with the 35 best virtual road racers in the world making their annual return to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. As always, the broadcast can be seen on Saturday at 2PM ET at twitch.tv/Porsche.

Last Race: Kicking off from the Hockenheimring, whose Porsche Experience Center served as the real-world studio host of last year’s season finale, the 2022 opener marked the series debut of the new-generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) for PESC’s top drivers. Perhaps it was fitting then that Ayhancan Guven, who was on hand in Hockenheim last year, took the win from this year’s opening round, outrunning some heavy beating and banging behind him and avoiding the drive-thru penalties that plagued some of his fastest competitors to take the feature win. Graham Carroll and Jeremy Bouteloup completed the podium.

Last Season: 2020 series champion Sebastian Job took the checkered flag in last year’s visit to Barcelona, jumpstarting his title defense after a disappointing season opener at Interlagos. Job clawed his way from 16^th to eighth in the sprint race, benefitted from the eight-car invert for the feature, and led every single lap on the way to the checkered flag. Sprint race winner and eventual series champion Joshua Rogers was second, with Charlie Collins holding off Dayne Warren for third.

Track Facts: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has been one of the premier racing facilities in Spain for more than 30 years, opening in 1991 and hosting the Spanish Grand Prix ever since. Boasting a full calendar of events for open-wheel, GT and touring car, and even motorcycle events, the current configuration of the circuit is 2.905 miles long and features 16 turns. The lap starts with the longest and fastest straightaway on the circuit before a sharp right-hand first corner, one of the chief passing zones on the circuit. Turns 10 through 16 are compressed into the final third of the lap, forcing drivers to go from gradual and flowing corners to an aggressive set of slower turns and chicanes before charging to the finish line.

Next Race: Following Barcelona, the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup takes on a track chosen by fan vote. Watkins Glen International, the streets of Long Beach, Interlagos, and the Hungaroring are the four options for the third round of the season.

For more information on the 2022 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season, visit www.iracing.com/pesc. To follow along with live timing on race day, click here. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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