Sebastian Job doubles up, claims perfect Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup round at Hockenheim
February 12th, 2024 by Justin Melillo
Sebastian Job did something that he hasn’t done in nearly four years during Saturday’s event at the Hockenheimring Baden-Wurttemberg—he scored the maximum points available in a single race. After winning the TAG Heuer Pole Award, his second in a row to start off the 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season, not only did the Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing driver dominate the Sprint race, but Job also managed to come from an inverted-to-eighth starting spot in the Feature to completely sweep the weekend.
A perfect PESC points score, 85 points, is something that hasn’t been done since the 2021 Supercup season, when Joshua Rogers accomplished the feat at Le Mans en route to his second title. When Job did it in 2020, he also went on to win a title. Foreshadowing, perhaps? While winning the Sprint and Feature is still hard to do on its own, having only happened 10 times in 51 previous races, winning it all with maximum points from a TAG Heuer Pole Award has only happened twice before (or three times if you count the non-points paying time that Jeremy Bouteloup did it in 2019).
With the shortest season in series history, only seven events as compared to the five previous seasons with 10 races apiece, Job could make his points lead untouchable fairly quickly, as he already has 51 points over Team Redline’s Diogo Pinto.
SPRINT RACE: As Job pulled away immediately off of the starting line, the battle behind from second on back became all about minimizing mistakes. Stormforce Racing’s Alejandro Sánchez took the second spot in qualifying, but exiting Turn 1, the Nordkurve, he was hit by Altus Esports’ Jordan Caruso, sent into a slide that was barely avoided by VRS Coanda’s Zac Campbell. Sánchez fell back and would finish sixth, but the incidents wouldn’t stop there.
Team Redline in particular had some tough luck as Josh Thompson and Sam Kuitert both wound up facing the wrong direction on the first lap. BS+COMPETITION’s Oskari Rinne also went around towards the end of the first lap.
With the battle for the invert taking center stage behind the dominant Job, the fight got physical as the laps wound down. FYRA SimSport’s Mathias Stokbæk and VRS Coanda’s Oscar Py wound up both out of the conversation with late contact in the 12th corner, Sachs, allowing for last week’s Sprint winner at Daytona, Apex Racing Team’s Luke McKeown, to win the spot over VRS Coanda’s Bryn Collins.
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Sprint top 10 results from Hockenheimring Baden-Wurttemberg were as follows:
- Sebastian Job
- Jordan Caruso
- Zac Campbell
- Yohann Harth
- Cooper Webster
- Alejandro Sánchez
- Diogo C. Pinto
- Luke McKeown
- Bryn Collins
- Matti Sipilä
FEATURE RACE: It looked like it would be an opposite showing from last week’s events at Daytona, where McKeown won the Sprint and Job won the Feature. Job, mired back in eighth to start the Hockenheim feature, would have a tall mountain to climb while McKeown was able to stay calm under pressure from the other Verstappen.com Team Redline champion, Diogo Pinto. Eventually, Job made his way into third, and with the race past halfway, the chances to make moves were dwindling.
In the eighth corner, Mercedes, Pinto overdrove wide, allowing for Job to take over second spot. Into the hairpin the next lap by, Job made a lunge, slightly missing the apex to trade paint with the Apex car leading. The two would drive away unscathed, but it was enough to give Job the advantage. Pinto would also get by in the ensuing laps. On the final lap, it was Job and Pinto for the win again, just like Daytona, but Pinto wasn’t able to get enough of a run, allowing Job to hold on for his perfect day.
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Feature results from Hockenheimring Baden-Wurttemberg were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Driver |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts. |
1 | 8 | 22 | Sebastian Job | 18 | 0.000 | 5 | 1:41.046 | 85 |
2 | 2 | 44 | Diogo C. Pinto | 18 | -0.536 | 0 | 1:41.106 | 59 |
3 | 1 | 96 | Luke McKeown | 18 | -0.752 | 13 | 1:41.160 | 53 |
4 | 3 | 47 | Alejandro Sánchez | 18 | -1.025 | 0 | 1:41.011 | 47* |
5 | 5 | 90 | Yohann Harth | 18 | -1.617 | 0 | 1:41.028 | 54 |
6 | 4 | 37 | Cooper Webster | 18 | -1.995 | 0 | 1:41.034 | 47 |
7 | 10 | 11 | Matti Sipilä | 18 | -4.762 | 0 | 1:40.926 | 39 |
8 | 9 | 8 | Bryn Collins | 18 | -5.004 | 0 | 1:41.038 | 33* |
9 | 12 | 40 | Julien Soenen | 18 | -5.053 | 0 | 1:41.038 | 33 |
10 | 6 | 15 | Zac Campbell | 18 | -5.300 | 0 | 1:40.961 | 37* |
11 | 7 | 1 | Jordan Caruso | 18 | -5.682 | 0 | 1:40.932 | 43* |
12 | 19 | 81 | Quentiin Vialatte | 18 | -6.608 | 0 | 1:40.970 | 15* |
13 | 14 | 3 | Kevin Nielsen | 18 | -7.152 | 0 | 1:40.697 | 23 |
14 | 13 | 92 | Michael Janney | 18 | -7.453 | 0 | 1:41.099 | 22 |
15 | 11 | 12 | Gustavo Ariel | 18 | -9.295 | 0 | 1:41.359 | 22 |
16 | 18 | 57 | Mathias Stokbæk Jensen | 18 | -9.670 | 0 | 1:40.943 | -2* |
17 | 20 | 13 | Dino Lombardi | 18 | -10.909 | 0 | 1:41.006 | -5* |
18 | 25 | 16 | Luca Kita | 18 | -12.279 | 0 | 1:41.416 | 8 |
19 | 27 | 28 | Sam Kuitert | 18 | -15.767 | 0 | 1:41.097 | 7 |
20 | 17 | 54 | Oscar Py | 18 | -16.393 | 0 | 1:41.311 | 0* |
21 | 29 | 5 | Oskari Rinne | 18 | -16.631 | 0 | 1:41.797 | 0* |
22 | 21 | 20 | Chris Lulham | 18 | -17.077 | 0 | 1:40.906 | 4 |
23 | 30 | 95 | Parker White | 18 | -17.310 | 0 | 1:41.236 | 3 |
24 | 15 | 69 | Moreno Sirica | 18 | -19.660 | 0 | 1:41.353 | 8 |
25 | 26 | 29 | Jakub Maciejewski | 18 | -20.074 | 0 | 1:41.392 | -4* |
26 | 16 | 77 | Alessandro Bico | 18 | -20.620 | 0 | 1:41.220 | 5 |
27 | 24 | 27 | Simone Maria Marcenò | 18 | -24.658 | 0 | 1:41.505 | -5* |
28 | 22 | 4 | Salva Talens | 18 | -30.680 | 0 | 1:41.377 | -5* |
29 | 28 | 24 | Lasse Bak | 13 | -5L | 0 | 1:41.699 | 0 |
30 | 23 | 43 | Josh Thompson | 6 | DNF | 0 | 1:41.141 | 0 |
*Points penalties applied post-race
After two races, Job has a substantial lead of 51 points over Pinto, which is more than a single Feature race pays out to the winner. McKeown, with the Sprint win last week and the podium this week, sits in third ahead of his teammate, Yohann Harth, in fourth.
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup points through Round 2 are as follows:
- Sebastian Job, 167
- Diogo C. Pinto, 116
- Luke McKeown, 110
- Yohann Harth, 106
- Zac Campbell, 85
- Gustavo Ariel, 75
- Chris Lulham, 62
- Alejandro Sánchez, 58
- Jordan Caruso, 58
- Cooper Webster, 55
ALL-STARS: The PESC All-Stars were once again in the Porsche 963 GTP to open the racing over the weekend. While The Pulpo Lopez showed speed during practice, defending champion Casey Kirwan was able to score the pole and take the Sprint win handedly. An early pair of incidents saw Basic Ollie and Borja Zazo collide, the two finishing in the last two spots in the Sprint. That meant a full field transfer would put them on the front row for the Feature, however, and Ollie was able to take full advantage.
Kirwan wasn’t able to get through the field as easily this time around, only getting up to finish fifth in the Feature. Ollie drove away for most of the race, but in the closing laps, had a battle with former All-Stars champion Quirkitized. Quirk showed the nose on the final lap, but wasn’t able to make the move stick, allowing for Ollie to score his first win in the All-Stars series.
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports All-Stars Sprint results from Hockenheimring Baden-Wurttemberg were as follows:
- Casey Kirwan
- The Pulpo Lopez
- Emree
- Sampsoid
- Daniel Gray
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports All-Stars Feature results from Hockenheimring Baden-Wurttemberg were as follows:
- Basic Ollie
- Quirkitized
- Suellio Almeida
- Dan Suzuki
- Casey Kirwan
Through two events, it’s evident that Kirwan will be tough to beat once again this season. Newcomer to the series, Suellio Almeida, sits in second ahead of Lopez, Ollie, and last week’s Feature winner at Daytona, Emree.
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports All-Stars points through Round 2 are as follows:
- Casey Kirwan, 91
- Suellio Almeida, 57
- The Pulpo Lopez, 51
- Basic Ollie, 46
- Emree, 45
Next week, the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup will head to Le Mans, the Circuit de 24 Heuers du Mans, for the third race of the 2024 season. Coverage for the event will kick off on Saturday, February 17th at 18:00 GMT (1PM ET) with the Porsche All-Stars in the Porsche 963 GTP for the final time kicking off the show. After the All-Stars, the Supercup begins their third round at 19:00 GMT (2PM ET). In last season’s Le Mans races, Sebastian Job and Yohann Harth were victorious.
For more information on the 2024 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season, visit www.iracing.com/pesc. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.