Geschrieben von Nielsen takes points lead with Feature victory; Christensen scores “extremely important” Sprint race win
The penultimate battle of the 2023 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series took to the Streets of Long Beach for the first and only street race of the season on Saturday. Ultimate victory belonged to Denmark’s Kevin Nielsen, winner of the 26-lap Feature race after qualifying in ninth and finishing fifth in the Sprint race. Fellow Dane Rasmus Christensen was victorious in the 13-lap Sprint, winning the battle into Turn 1 from the second starting position over polesitter Matti Sipilä of Finland.
Nielsen took control away from American driver Michael Janney just before halfway and never looked back, leading the final 15 laps to the checkers. The victory propels Nielsen to the top of the standings with only one race to go in the series, a points battle that will feature no drop weeks. Unofficially, the top six in the standings leaving Long Beach are virtually locked into 2024 eligibility, but that’s assuming they both earn points and don’t lose any in post-race penalties when the series concludes at the Nürburgring GP in a week’s time. The top 15 point scorers in the Contender Series will be in the running for an opportunity to race at the top level of the series in 2024.
The day started off with a Sipilä pole position, fresh off of his victory a week ago in the Feature race at Road Atlanta. A pole is worth 10 points, which is big for his chances at earning 2024 eligibility. Off the start in the Sprint, however, it was Christensen taking control with some perfect acceleration off of the line. Sipilä fell back to second as the field attempted to navigate through the fountain section, most making it out without too much incident.
There wouldn’t be too much of a battle up front—Sipilä kept Christensen honest while Italian Dino Lombardi pressured from third. Christensen went on to win, while William Chadwick from the United Kingdom wound up in eighth, the position to be to invert to the pole for the Feature.
Long Beach Sprint Race Top 10:
Rasmus Christensen
Matti Sipilä
Dino Lombardi
Luke McKeown
Kevin Nielsen
Simone Maria Marcenò
Michael Janney
William Chadwick
Jakub Maciejewski
Quentiin Vialatte
The Feature would get a little more feisty as the final hairpin at Turn 11 would become a breeding zone for dive bombs and contact through the event. At one point in the race, Christensen was a victim of contact, and it resulted in a finish outside of the points. Chadwick led the opening five laps from the pole, but on the sixth lap, Janney took a dive and made a little bit of contact to get through. The next time around, Nielsen followed through, with Italy’s Simone Maria Marcenò also fighting through into a podium position.
Nielsen kept the move in his back pocket and eventually struck for the lead on Lap 12. Janney gave plenty of room, which also allowed for Marcenò to take a peek alongside as they raced towards the line. While Nielsen pulled a bit of a gap, Marcenò made the move around into the second spot the next lap by. Marcenò, a winner at the venue in the top level Supercup event earlier this year, was hot on Nielsen’s tail, keeping pressure until the end of the race. Nielsen had enough, however, to hold on to the win, his first of the season. Lombardi rounded out the podium positions behind Marcenò.
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series Round 5 results at Long Beach Street Circuit were as follows:
Fin.
St.
No.
Driver
Laps
Interval
Led
Best
Pts.
1
4
3
Kevin Nielsen
26
0.000
15
1:19.584
66
2
3
27
Simone Maria Marcenò
26
-0.612
0
1:19.556
62
3
6
13
Dino Lombardi
26
-6.575
0
1:19.786
66
4
2
92
Michael Janney
26
-9.668
6
1:20.155
51
5
13
12
Bryn Collins
26
-9.970
0
1:19.824
42
6
1
88
William Chadwick
26
-10.217
5
1:19.987
44
7
12
40
Julien Soenen
26
-11.287
0
1:19.867
37
8
9
29
Jakub Maciejewski
26
-12.164
0
1:19.950
38
9
10
81
Quentiin Vialatte
26
-15.311
0
1:20.221
35
10
20
47
Xander Reed
26
-15.724
0
1:20.109
23
11
19
57
Mathias Stokbæk Jensen
26
-18.030
0
1:20.251
22
12
16
28
Sam Kuitert
26
-22.364
0
1:20.302
23
13
14
54
Oscar Py
26
-23.484
0
1:20.400
23
14
17
20
Chris Lulham
26
-23.733
0
1:20.364
18
15
22
83
Bobby Zalenski
26
-24.238
0
1:20.184
12
16
24
95
Parker White
26
-24.878
0
1:20.042
10
17
23
30
Jobe Stewart
26
-24.895
0
1:20.429
9
18
21
96
Malthe Rømer
26
-26.288
0
1:20.109
8
19
30
71
Raphael Silva
26
-28.826
0
1:20.363
7
20
28
14
Jeff Giassi
26
-30.517
0
1:20.383
6
21
7
11
Matti Sipilä
26
-30.769
0
1:20.244
37
22
18
21
Antoine Lacharite
26
-31.414
0
1:20.276
7
23
31
70
Josh Thompson
26
-39.174
0
1:20.570
3
24
27
5
Lucas Daugaard
26
-1:06.129
0
1:20.419
2
25
26
17
Victor Miranda
26
-1:06.325
0
1:20.290
1
26
8
18
Rasmus Christensen
20
-6L
0
1:19.770
33
27
15
9
Carlos Fenollosa
17
DNF
0
1:20.626
6
28
11
33
Alexey Nesov
14
DNF
0
1:20.078
10
29
5
22
Luke McKeown
12
DNF
0
1:20.222
22
30
32
89
Juan Bleynat
7
DNF
0
1:20.762
0
31
25
87
Bernardo Faria
3
-23L
0
1:24.103
0
32
29
77
Pedro de Oliveira S
0
DNF
0
———
0
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series points through Round 5 are as follows:
Kevin Nielsen, 286
Luke McKeown, 250
Quentiin Vialatte, 231
Parker White, 212
Michael Janney, 197
Oscar Py, 190
Bryn Collins, 173
Sam Kuitert, 166
Julien Soenen, 146
Simone Maria Marcenò, 129
Dino Lombardi, 122
William Chadwick, 120
Chris Lulham, 112
Matti Sipilä, 112
Mathias Stokbæk Jensen, 109
———————————–
Josh Thompson, 97
Jakub Maciejewski, 95
Bobby Zalenski, 94
Alexey Nesov, 83
Malthe Rømer, 81
Xander Reed, 73
Rasmus Christensen, 69
Carlos Fenollosa, 52
Victor Miranda, 50
Jobe Stewart, 48
Post-race points penalties from Long Beach were applied to multiple drivers, including Lombardi, Bryn Collins, Mathias Stokbæk Jensen, Bobby Zalenski, and Alexey Nesov. These drivers in particular will head to the Nürburgring GP on Saturday fighting for a chance at 2024 series eligibility.
The finale to the 2023 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series season at the Nürburgring Grand-Prix-Strecke will kick off on Saturday, November 4 at 19:00 GMT (3PM ET), and will be available to watch on select iRacing and Porsche social channels.
For more information on the 2023 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series season, visit www.iracing.com/pesc/contender/. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.