Murray dominates penultimate round of Porsche PAYCE & MICHELIN Virtual Cup

Cooper Murray takes his eighth race victory of the season in Le Mans

Round 5 of the Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup saw Championship leader, Cooper Murray, extend his lead in Mobil Pro class with three hard-fought victories in the three 20-minute virtual sprint races on the iRacing platform.

Murray made a clean start in Race 1 from pole position, to lead Cody Burcher and real-world Le Mans winner, Matt Campbell, into turn 1. The long straights of the iconic French circuit saw drafting playing a key role in the numerous battles through the field, with the front pairing swopping positions on several occasions in the opening laps.

Murray would then drop to fourth behind Burcher, Campbell and Matthew Payne after a mistake onto the pit straight. The front quartet was in a race of their own after an early spin by Ryan Suhle split the chasing pack – Thomas Maxwell again an unlucky opening lap casualty.

Further back, Marc Cini had made his best start of the season to lead the Pro-am class in the early laps and was lying an impressive seventh overall. Cini would run wide and later spin while chasing down Max Vidau, handing Sonic Motor Racing race engineer, Jaidyn Job, the lead which he would hold to the flag.

Cini would hang on for second in class with the ever-consistent Graham Williams in third. At the front, Matt Campbell had made his way past Burcher and while embroiled in the battle for the lead, made contact with the young Formula Ford star, sending both off track and down the order.

This left the door open for Murray and Payne to take the top two positions from Burcher in third. The damage sustained by Campbell as a result of the accident saw him eventually limp home in seventh.

Race 2 saw Murray make a clean start followed by Matthew Payne. The young New Zealand karting ace would make a mistake however, exiting the famed Tertre Rouge and fall down the running order.

Murray and Burcher would then scrap for the next laps for the lead, before the inevitable contact between the pair, saw Burcher again relegated down the order. Murray would go onto claim the race win, with a 7.5-second advantage over his McElrea Racing teammate, Harri Jones, with Campbell recovering to third.

Despite contact with Christian Pancione while ninth, Jaidyn Job would regain the Pro-Am lead from Marc Cini in the second half of the race, with Graham Williams again third in class. Repeating the same results as Race 1.

The final race of the evening saw Campbell spin while following Murray and Jones into the first turn. Job also ran-wide on the same corner, handing the Pro-Am Lead to Sergio Pires.

Jones would eventually lose touch with Murray and fall back into the clutches of Payne. After clearing Jones and gradually closing the gap to Murray, Payne would carry too much speed into the same chicane as Jones did laps later, handing the Helimods driver back second place. The McElrea Racing teammates would hold that advantage to the end of the race, with an unlucky Burcher recovering to third.

Cini would overtake Pires for victory in the Pro-Am class, with Matthew Belford in third – extending his Pro-Am class lead to 40 points over Graham Williams heading into the final round at Silverstone on the 13 July.

All three races from Round 5 will be shown on both the @PorscheMotorsportAU Youtube channel and Facebook page at 20:00 (Melbourne time) on Friday evening.

Results: Round 5, Le Mans

Race 1

Mobil Pro

1. Cooper Murray
2. Matthew Payne
3. Cody Burcher

Pro-Am

1. Jaidyn Job
2. Marc Cini
3. Graham Williams

Race 2

Mobil Pro

1. Cooper Murray
2. Harri Jones
3. Matt Campbell

Pro-Am

1. Jaidyn Job
2. Mark Cini
3. Graham Williams

Race 3

Mobil Pro

1. Cooper Murray
2. Harri Jones
3. Cody Burcher

Pro-Am

1. Marc Cini
2. Sergio Pires
3. Matthew Belford

Evans and Love set to contest Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season-opener

Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Round 1 preview, Spielberg, Austria

This weekend, drivers contesting the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will tackle a real-life race for the first time since October 2019. Most of them have spent the last months competing in virtual racing cars. At the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, the 28th season of the international one-make cup gets underway as a support race to the Austrian Grand Prix (3 – 5 July 2020).

The 2020 calendar is made up of eight races, all run alongside the FIA Formula One World Championship. Drivers from twelve countries, including Australia, Guatemala and the USA, will take the wheel of the 485-hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. To prepare for the upcoming Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season, two official test days were held at the Red Bull Ring.

“Judging by the two test days in Austria, the fight for the 2020 title will be between a handful of young guns who are known for their spectacular driving style. This means that the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup once again lives up to its key role as the springboard for talented young racing drivers who are eager to become works drivers. Although the competitors will find it strange to race in front of empty grandstands, the line-up this year promises some gripping race action,” said Oliver Schwab, Project Manager Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, referring to the spectator-free races for the time being.

Porsche Junior Jaxon Evans (BWT Lechner Racing) set the fastest time at the Spielberg tests. “It felt amazing to finally sit in a real racing car,” says the New Zealander. “I’m perfectly prepared for the start of the season.”

The second Porsche Junior, Ayhancan Güven (Martinet by Alméras) from Turkey, still has a score to settle at the Red Bull Ring. “The last time I drove here I got entangled in an accident in the second corner – and that was the end of my race.” Güven is one of the few drivers to claim a victory during the postponement of real races due to the pandemic. Driving for the Porsche Esports Team, he won the GTE class of the virtual “24 Hours of Le Mans” in the digital reproduction of the Porsche 911 RSR.

Reigning Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Champion, Jordan Love, improved from 13th to 10th in the test standings after just two sessions, in his first visit to the Spielberg circuit.

The picturesque panorama of the Styrian Alps makes the 4.318-kilometre-long Red Bull Ring unique on the racing calendar. With the combination of high-speed passages and tight corners, the racetrack is famed for its many overtaking manoeuvres. Last year, Julien Andlauer (F) won the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race on the Styrian circuit.

Round one of the 2020 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup takes off on Sunday 5 July 2020. Australian fans can enjoy the race via a live stream on F1.com or via the FoxSports broadcast on channel 506.

Broadcast Schedule:

SUNDAY 5

FOX SPORTS 506

Sun 5 Jul 8:23pm – 9:08pm

MONDAY 6

FOX SPORTS 506 HD

Mon 6 Jul 11:30am – 12:15pm

FOX SPORTS 506

Mon 6 Jul 11:30am – 12:15pm

FOX SPORTS 506 HD

Mon 6 Jul 3:45pm – 4:30pm

FOX SPORTS 506

Mon 6 Jul 3:45pm – 4:30pm

Le Mans winner returns for Round 5 of Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup

Circuit de la Sarthe to host battle royale between Campbell and Murray

The spiritual home of global endurance racing, the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, will host the penultimate round of the Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup.

Porsche holds many enviable records on the French circuit including the most recent GTE-class win at the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the record for the most Le Mans victories by a constructor at 19.

2016 Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Champion, Matt Campbell, also has a strong affiliation with the famous classic after the Queenslander took the victory (together with teammates Christian Ried and Julien Andlauer) in the GTE-Am class aboard the #77 Porsche 911 RSR of Dempsey-Proton Racing in 2018 – notching up the German manufacturer’s 107th class win in the process.

On Monday evening, the country’s top Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car drivers will get the opportunity to race the Porsche factory driver on the Le Mans circuit in Round 5 of Virtual championship – hosted on the iRacing platform.

Heading the challenge to Campbell will be Michelin Junior driver, Cooper Murray, who thanks to a string of early-season victories, currently holds a massive 166-point advantage over McElrea Racing teammate, Harri Jones, in second, with just six races remaining.

Round 4 saw Murray challenged to the line in all three Bathurst races by New Zealand Karting ace, Matthew Payne, and young Formula Ford star, Cody Burcher.

Others to watch in the Mobil Pro class include Josh Hunt, Garth Walden Racing’s Ollie Shannon and Thomas Maxwell, with Jaxon Evans missing the final two rounds of the virtual season due to his ‘real-world’ Porsche Mobil1 Supercup commitments.

The Porsche Asia Pacific Championship will again be well represented by both Reid Harker and Will Bamber, younger brother of Le Mans winner, Earl. While Sam Brabham, son of 2009 Le Mans 24 Hour winner, David Brabham, completes the international line-up.

The Pro-Am battle has been a balance of consistency and attrition this season and the class championship is still wide open, with new leader Matthew Belford only 14-points ahead of Dean Cook and 40-points ahead of John Goodacre.

The Porsche Team entries for Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup crew members have so far produced some of the strongest competitors in the Virtual Cup and this race will see the turn of Sonic Motor Racing Services’ Race Engineer, Jaidyn Job, take the reins.

Post-race highlights of each event will be broadcast on Porsche Motorsport Australia social channels, with all three races broadcast on the @PorscheMotorsportAU Facebook and Youtube channels at 20:00 (Melbourne time) on Friday 03 July.

Follow Porsche Motorsport Australia on Facebook and Instagram @PorscheMotorsportAU to keep up-to-date with information about the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Australia Championship.

Entry list: Round 5 – Le Mans

Revised 2020 Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia calendar revealed

Porsche announces revised 2020 Carrera Cup Calendar

Following the first two rounds of the 2020 season in Adelaide and the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit earlier this year, Porsche Motorsport is pleased to announce its revised 2020 calendar for the Carrera Cup season following the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The draft calendar dates for the remaining five rounds of the Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia season see Australia’s top one-make Championship return as the premier support race for four Virgin Supercars Championship rounds in 2020, as well as a single Shannons Motorsport Australia Championship round in mid-August.

The revised calendar – which drops from eight rounds to seven – re-starts in Winton on the 18-19 July, before joining The Shannons Motorsport Australia Championship program at Sydney Motorsport Park on the 15-16 August.

Teams then head north to Townsville at the end of August – in its new time slot – before returning to Sandown Raceway in mid-September. The season finale will now be held at the Bathurst 1000 on 8-11 October – the last two rounds retaining their original time slots.

Fans and competitors will be able to enjoy extensive broadcast coverage of every Carrera Cup race with Supercars rounds televised both on Fox Sports Channel 506 and free-to-air on Channel 10. The Sydney round of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championship will be broadcast free-to-air on Channel 7 and live-streamed on the 7 Plus app.

On the announcement, Head of Motorsport at Porsche Cars Australia, Troy Bundy said, “We are pleased to reveal our revised 2020 calendar that will see Porsche brand racing again in Australia, which is something that we are very passionate about. I would like to take the opportunity to thank both Supercars and Motorsport Australia for the support they have given us in developing this great line-up of events for the remainder of this season.”

“We are really looking forward to returning to the track and continuing to provide an excellent show for our fans, customers, teams and partners and we would like to thank them for their patience and support during this time.”

“We are blessed to be able to work with such a great group of people that are as passionate about motorsport as we are and we are looking forward to seeing everyone at the track again soon.”

Further details regarding race formats for each round will be announced in the coming weeks.

*Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup – 2020 Revised Calendar

Winton Motor Raceway                   July 18-19

Sydney Motorsport Park                 August 15 -16

Townsville                                          August 29-30

Sandown Raceway                            September 19-20

Bathurst 1000                                    October 8-11

*All events on the revised calendar are subject to change. Both Porsche Cars Australia and Supercars will ensure that all events are compliant with appropriate State, Territory and Federal regulations as they continue to be updated in response to COVID-19 and otherwise. The stringent guidelines developed by Supercars for each event are based on expert medical advice and the advice of their Australian Government partners (as well as Motorsport Australia) to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of all teams, drivers and officials.

Evans and Love return to real racetracks as the Supercup calendar revs up again

Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, 2020 season preview

The enforced timeout from racing is over: On 5 July 2020, the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup makes a belated start to the season at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. And the programme is packed: Eight races within less than ten weeks make up the calendar of the one-make cup featuring 485 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racing cars. As always, all races are held as support to the FIA Formula One World Championship.

After a second round in Spielberg one week later, teams head to Budapest followed by two consecutive race weekends at Silverstone before travelling to Barcelona (Spain) and on to Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium). The finale is contested at Monza (Italy) on the first weekend in September. Each weekend features a 30-minute sprint race. To prepare for the most compact season in the history of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, official tests will be held at the Red Bull Ring on 23-24 June 2020. Porsche also fields a VIP vehicle at selected rounds of the 2020 season.

“Along with Formula 1, we are trailblazers within Europe with our return to the racetracks. This exceptional situation entails a high degree of responsibility. The health measures required to protect everyone involved pose a major challenge, but we have meticulously prepared for them,” says Oliver Schwab, Project Manager of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. “I’m looking forward to a shortened but extremely gripping season. As originally planned, the calendar includes eight races. Despite the difficult situation, the grid line-up is just as strong as in previous years. The sporting value of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is still high.”

The two Porsche Juniors for the 2020 season are the New Zealander Jaxon Evans (BWT Lechner Racing) and Ayhancan Güven (Martinet by Alméras) from Turkey.

“It’s been almost eight months since I last drove the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in Mexico City,” says Evans, who now enters his second season as a Porsche Junior.

“The waiting time has really tested my patience. Words can’t describe how eager I am to finally get into a racing car again. I reckon the 2020 season will be pretty hectic, but I’ve already had a year in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Now I’m driving for another team, but I know all the racetracks so I’m feeling very confident.”

“Over the past months, I’ve been contesting virtual races on a simulator. That was huge fun and great practice,” says Güven, for whom 2020 is his first season as a Porsche Junior. “But now, I can’t wait to drive a real Porsche on a real Grand Prix circuit. The races come in quick succession. I’m anticipating ten weeks of intense pressure. There’ll be no time for recovery or if need be, a mental reboot.”

Joining Evans and Guven is 2019 Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia Champion, Jordan Love, who announced his Supercup return earlier this month following a freak surfing accident which broke his hip in three places.  All Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup races will again be broadcast on FoxSports in 2020.

Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup 2020 calendar:

5 July – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg (Austria)

12 July – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg (Austria)

19 July – Hungaroring, Budapest (Hungary)

2 August – Silverstone (Great Britain)

9 August – Silverstone (Great Britain)

16 August – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona (Spain)

30 August – Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium)

6 September – Autodromo Nazionale Monza (Italy)

Burcher, Payne and Collins share the spoils in Bathurst

Murray increases Championship lead in Porsche PAYCE & MICHELIN Virtual Cup

Following three thrilling iRacing rounds in Europe and the United States, the top Carrera Cup and Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge drivers turned their attention to the infamous Mount Panorama Circuit for round four of the Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup.

After amassing seven victories from nine races so far this virtual season, many wondered if Championship leader, Cooper Murray, would continue his winning form in Bathurst.

With both Jaxon Evans and Matt Campbell, sitting out this round after an arduous Virtual 24 Hour Le Mans schedule on the weekend – which saw the German sports car manufacturer claim victory in the GTE Class – Murray was a strong favourite to continue his winning streak.

But after the 20-minute qualifying session early on Monday evening, it was clear that the Melbourne resident’s steepest opposition in this round would be from rising young Formula Ford star, Cody Burcher, as well as New Zealand karting ace Matthew Payne – who had both challenged Murray on separate occasions already this season.

Payne and Burcher would proceed to lock-out the front row for Race 1, recording times more than 0.6 secs faster than Murray and his McElrea Racing teammate, Harri Jones.

There was also an impressive performance in the Pro-Am field by Ashley Seward Motorsport mechanic, Andrew Collins, who qualified in fifth overall on debut – over 1.2 seconds faster than his nearest class rival.

Race 1 would see the top five make a clean start before Burcher overtook the young Kiwi into Quarry corner on the opening lap. With Murray, Jones and Collins in close attendance, the top five cars quickly amassed a 4.5-sec gap over Ollie Shannon and Sam Brabham.

Jones would be the next to lose touch with the leading trio, after swerving to avoid a spinning backmarker. Collins meanwhile, had built-up a commanding lead in the Pro-Am battle over Matthew Belford, David Ryan and John Goodacre.

With five minutes remaining, Burcher and Payne were glued together with Murray just hanging on in third. Jones and Collins, by contrast, were having relatively lonely races, occupying fourth and fifth respectively.

The inevitable contact came between the two young guns in the dying laps though, when Payne nudged Burcher wide into turn two, and sportingly redressed straight away to stay in second position.

Burcher would succumb to the pressure moments later though, out braking himself into the pit straight on the final lap, dropping him to third behind Murray. This left Payne to take a well-earned victory, with the front pair, yet again, crossing the line with less than half a second between them.

Jones and Collins would retain their fourth and fifth positions over the line, while Marc Cini would post his best result of the season with second place in the Pro-Am class, ahead of both Belford and Goodacre.

Payne would make another clean start in Race 2 and take a defensive line to keep Murray behind him on the opening lap. Murray would out-brake himself into The Chase just laps later, dropping the Phase 8 driver down the order.

After gradually building a lead of 1.6secs over Burcher, it was then Payne’s turn to make a mistake from the lead dropping him to tenth position. In the remaining laps, he would recover to fourth with Burcher taking the race win ahead of Jones and Murray.

Collins would repeat his race 1 win ahead of Belford and Sergio Pires in the Pro-Am class, with Belford earning valuable points for his championship fight with Dean Cook.

Jones would make a poor start in Race 3, losing a position to Payne and tangling with Maxwell on the exit of Turn 1. Burcher unfazed by the carnage behind him quickly built a 1.2-second lead, while Payne would overtake Murray for second.

By the halfway mark, only 0.6 seconds split the top three, with Shannon a further 13 seconds back in fourth.

Unlike Collins, Pires and Zalloua had escaped the early carnage to lead the Pro-Am field from both Goodacre and Belford. But the quartet was gradually caught and passed by a recovering Collins in the dying laps of the race. Collins would go onto claim his third class win of the night in convincing fashion, coming home ahead of Goodacre, Pires and Belford.

At the front of the Mobil Pro field, Murray had lost touch with the front pair by the final laps. Burcher then pressured Payne into a mistake exiting The Chase.

This allowed Burcher to take the outside line and undercut Payne onto the pit straight. He would go onto hold this lead until the end of the race, followed home by Payne, Murray, Shannon and Josh Hunt.

All three races from Round 4 in Bathurst will be shown on both the @PorscheMotorsportAU Youtube channel and Facebook page at 20:00 (Melbourne time) on Friday evening.

Results: Round 4, Bathurst  

Race 1

Mobil Pro

1. Matthew Payne
2. Cooper Murray
3. Cody Burcher

Pro-Am

1. Andrew Collins
2. Marc Cini
3. Matthew Belford

Race 2

Mobil Pro

1. Cody Burcher
2. Harri Jones
3. Cooper Murray

Pro-Am

1. Andrew Collins
2. Matthew Belford
3. Sergio Pires

Race 3

Mobil Pro

1. Cody Burcher
2. Matthew Payne
3. Cooper Murray

Pro-Am

1. Andrew Collins
2. John Goodacre
3. Sergio Pires

Porsche wins GTE class at the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans

Race GTE, virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans, France

The newly founded Porsche Esports Team has won the first edition of the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the hands of works driver Nick Tandy (Great Britain) and Porsche-Junior Ayhancan Güven (Turkey) as well as the professional sim racers Josh Rogers (Australia) and Tommy Östgaard (Norway), the digital version of the 2017-spec 911 RSR took the flag in first place on the 13.626-kilometre Circuit des 24 Heures after a total of 339 laps. In the GTE class, they crossed the finish line after a flawless marathon sprint twice around the clock with a one-lap lead over the second-placed crew.

Exactly 50 years after Porsche’s first overall victory at the real classic, the quartet now adds to the success of Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood. On June 14, 1970, the German-British duo won the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the wheel of the 917 KH. With a total of 19 overall wins at the endurance season highlight, Porsche has notched up more victories than any other manufacturer to date. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the real Le Mans 24 Hours has been postponed to the 19/20 September.

Porsche tackled the digital event with four virtual 911 RSR. Each car was crewed by two real racing drivers and two esports professionals from the Coanda Simracing team. From the very beginning, the driver crew of the No. 93 car proved particularly competitive. After a strong start for Dempsey-Proton’s No. 88 Porsche 911 RSR, Tandy – the 2015 Le Mans overall winner – handed the car off to Östgaard and after a good four hours, they swept into the lead. Putting in a remarkably steady drive, both Güven and Rogers extended their lead, and not even two pit stops due to technical problems could halt their charge. At around 6.15am with the rising sun, 20-year-old Rogers also turned the fastest race lap in the GTE class in 3:48.203 minutes.

The No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR was also on a steady course for a podium spot, only to have works driver Matt Campbell (Australia), Porsche-Junior Jaxon Evans (New Zealand), Mack Bakkum (Netherlands) and Jeremy Bouteloup (France) fall victim to a server error almost an hour before the end of the race. They reached the finish line ranking 11th in the GTE class.

Another candidate for a top-three finish was the No. 91 car, driven by the two Porsche Formula E works drivers André Lotterer (Germany) and Neel Jani (Switzerland) as well as the American Mitchell de Jong and Martti Pietilä from Finland. After running in the top four until the early hours of the morning, a server problem while changing drivers cost valuable time just as they were about to head into the final third of the race. For them, the digital Le Mans concluded in 12th place.

Bad luck plagued works drivers Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) and Patrick Pilet (France) as well as sim racers Martin Krönke (Germany) and David Williams (Great Britain). De Silvestro became entangled in an accident after just 30 minutes and fell far down the field. Pilet’s crash midway through the race then threw them out of contention.

Comments on the race
Fritz Enzinger (Vice President Porsche Motorsport): „In the virtual world of racing, as well, meticulous preparation and total concentration over more than 24 hours contributed to this great result. My heartfelt thanks to Marco Ujhasi, the drivers and the entire Porsche Esports Team.“

Pascal Zurlinden (Director Factory Motorsport): “That was a dream weekend for Porsche – what better way is there to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Porsche’s first overall victory at Le Mans than to win the GTE class at the inaugural edition of the virtual 24-hour race? Congratulations to all drivers and particularly to the crew of the No. 93 Porsche 911 RSR. My sincere thanks as well to the fledgling Porsche Esports Team. The hard work of the last days and weeks has paid off. Congratulations as well to the ACO and the WEC for organising such a great event within just a few short weeks. Our endurance fans couldn’t have wished for a better replacement for the originally planned real Le Mans race. This event made us even more eager to tackle the postponed race in September.”

Marco Ujhasi (Manager Esports Porsche Motorsport): “I’m particularly proud that we were able to win as the Porsche Esports Team today. For me and many others, the story behind it began years ago: in 2013 we won Le Mans with the 911 RSR on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Porsche 911. In 2018, the victory coincided with the ,70 Years of Porsche Sports Cars‘ celebration. And now, exactly 50 years after Porsche’s first overall Le Mans victory, we secured the GTE class win at the inaugural virtual edition. This was not only thanks to the four drivers in the number 93 car but also to a 30-strong team. And we also have to acknowledge our partners, Coanda Simsport and Peter Dimov, the founder of the Virtual Racing School, for this great success. Thank you so much. And now we’ll celebrate. In real-life.”

Nick Tandy (Porsche 911 RSR #93): “This win is balm for the soul. We have some very difficult months behind us. The long break without real racing was and is a real strain for everyone at Porsche Motorsport, as well as for the fans and the drivers. For this reason, the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans was a brilliant initiative to revive motor racing. On this very day five years ago, I climbed to the top step of the podium as the overall Le Mans winner. Now to win the virtual race, it doesn’t get much better!”

Ayhancan Güven (Porsche 911 RSR #93): “That was pretty nerve-wracking in the final hours, I hardly dared to look, but it all went well. Victory feels great, especially since we’ve had some extremely exhausting weeks of preparation. The perfect teamwork paid off, and we deserve this win. We were definitely the fastest GTE vehicle in the field throughout the race. My first win at Le Mans is a virtual one – hopefully, I’ll be able to compete in the real race one day.”

Joshua Rogers (Porsche 911 RSR #93): “I don’t know what to say – we put so much work into this project over the last few weeks. It’s a massive team effort. Our weekend started very well with pole position. This allowed us to keep out of trouble at the start of the race and then we only had to turn our laps. We also managed to avoid mistakes when lapping slower cars and we tried to build on our lead as much as possible. Our strategy worked perfectly.”

Tommy Östgaard (Porsche 911 RSR #93): “This was an incredible race, everything ran perfectly for our car from start to finish. We were unlucky with the two red flags, but we’d prepared for every situation and stayed cool. Everyone at Porsche and Coanda made an incredible effort to ensure we could pull it off in the end. We were the quickest car and we made no mistakes. Once again, Porsche is writing Motorsport history, and I couldn’t be more proud to be part of it.”

Jaxon Evans (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “Wow, what an event – from the intensive four-week preparation window to the final hours of the race itself. It was a privilege to start the race in the #92 Porsche Esports Team entry. We knew we had the speed across all team members to be within podium contention come Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately with 90 minutes remaining, we had a network failure – taking us out of podium contention. Surviving the chaos proved to be difficult, we had everything thrown at us – but we continued to fight on. A massive applause to not only the #92 crew – but everyone behind the scenes!”

André Lotterer (Porsche 911 RSR #91): “I was really excited to contest the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans and was impressed by how realistic it was and also by the new Porsche Esports Team. It was very professional. I learned a lot from the esports world. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for us because a few glitches on the sim platform threw a spanner in the works. A podium result would have been within reach. Driving was great fun, although sometimes it wasn’t easy. I think I’d do it again.”

Simona de Silvestro (Porsche 911 RSR #94): “We got off to a good start but unfortunately an ex-Formula 1 world champion shunted me off the track after just 30 minutes. The repairs needed to get us back on track cost us 90 seconds. There was a heavy thunderstorm at my home in Switzerland overnight. The result: my internet connection dropped out and it took me five minutes to get back on the server. We were running far behind when Patrick ended up in the gravel and got stuck. Unfortunately, there are no virtual salvage vehicles in the simulation, so our race ended early. What a shame.”

Result LMP2 class
1. Deletraz/Marciello/Wisniewski/Brzezinski (CH/I/POL/POL), Oreca 07 LMP2, 371 laps
2. Dillmann/Guerrieri/Simoncic/Pedersen (F/ARG/SLO/DK), Oreca 07 LMP2, 371 laps
3. Canapino/Aitken/Arana/Romanidis (ARG/GB/E/GR), Oreca 07 MP2, 371 laps

Result GTE class:
1. Tandy/Güven/Rogers/Östgaard (GB/TR/AUS/N), Porsche 911 RSR, 339 laps
2. Thiim/Westbrook/Sörensen/Biancolilla (DK/GB/DK/I), Aston Martin Vantage, 338 laps
3. Juncadella/Beche/Jajovski/Kappet (E/CH/NMK/EST), Corvette C7.R, 337 laps
5. Pera/Hartog/Francesconi/van Dooren (I/NL/I/NL), Porsche 911 RSR, 337 laps
9. Pereira/Olsen/Neuendorf/Siara (LUX/N/D/POL), Porsche 911 RSR, 335 laps
11. Evans/Campbell/Bakkum/Bouteloup (NZ/AUS/NL/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 333 laps
12. Lotterer/Jani/DeJong/Pietilä (D/CH/USA/FIN), Porsche 911 RSR, 333 laps
16. Hörr/Kolkmann/Giusa/Müller (D/D/D/D), Porsche 911 RSR, 325 laps
DNF Barker/Watson/Maguire/Masciulli (GB/GB/IRL/I), Porsche 911 RSR, 324 laps
DNF Pilet/de Silvestro/Krönke/Williams (F/CH/D/GB), Porsche 911 RSR, 166 laps

Rogers puts Porsche on Pole in qualifying for the virtual Le Mans race

Four Porsche 911 RSRs in front in qualifying for the virtual Le Mans race

The Porsche Esports Team takes up the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans on Saturday from pole position in the GTE-class. After the 20-minute qualifying session, four 911 RSR cars locked out the first four grid spots, with a total of six Porsche cars placed in the top ten. Joshua Rogers clocked the best time on the 13.626-kilometre Circuit des 24 Heures in 3:46.550 minutes.

The Australian topped the time charts in all three sectors, albeit not in the same lap. Nevertheless, the 20-year-old driving the No. 93 RSR relegated his American teammate Mitchell deJong to second place by 0.632 seconds.

The second grid row is occupied by the No. 88 Porsche campaigned by Dempsey-Proton Racing driven by Kevin van Dooren from the Netherlands, and the Frenchman Jeremy Bouteloup in the factory squad’s third 911 RSR.

Bouteloup is paired with Porsche Junior, Jaxon Evans, and Australian Porsche factory driver, Matt Campbell in the #92 911 RSR entry. While David Williams rounds off the result for Porsche with sixth place in the #94 car.

The virtual 24 Hour of Le Mans gets underway on Saturday, 13 June at 3pm (CEST). Each of the four 911 RSR cars in the Porsche factory Esports Team is shared by two professional sim racers and two works drivers, including the three overall winners of the real long-distance classic, Neel Jani (CH), André Lotterer (D) and Nick Tandy (GB).

Motorsport fans can follow the race as a live stream at motorsports.porsche.com, which is supplemented by background reports on the Porsche Esports Team. The Porsche channels on YouTube, Instagram and Twitch offer exclusive behind-the-scenes insights into the paddock of the Porsche works squad. Moreover, the digital race of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the 24 Hour of Le Mans can be viewed on YouTube, with the Le Mans 24 Hours also shown on Facebook and Twitch.

Qualifying quotes

Marco Ujhasi (Manager Esports at Porsche Motorsport): “What a great start for our fledgling Porsche Esports Team. We worked hard during the past weeks and, thanks to perfect teamwork, we managed to fully incorporate the experiences from the real and virtual racing world. The significantly higher grip conditions didn’t surprise us and enabled this fantastic result in today’s qualifying. Now we’re going to have a virtual dinner together and then we’ll turn our full attention to preparing for the race.”

Joshua Rogers (Porsche 911 RSR #93): “Wow. That was one of the best laps I’ve ever done. I made a few mistakes, particularly in the last chicane. But now I’m on pole, and I even beat my teammate, Mitchell. I couldn’t have expected anything more in the quali. All in all, that was a strong team effort. We’re looking forward to the race. Starting on the front row makes it a little easier but it’s not the be-all and end-all in a 24-hour race.”

Mitchell deJong (Porsche 911 RSR #91): “I’m very happy I could put the number 91 car on second place and to have a front-row Porsche lockout in the GTE class. I’m thrilled that the race gets underway soon with Neel Jani taking the car to the green flag. We’re in a great position to fight for some fantastic results.”

Jeremy Bouteloup (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “Things went okay in the number 92 Porsche Esports 911 RSR. I’m not entirely satisfied with my performance although both of my attempts were decent and safe enough for place four. This is just one small part of the job and we’re looking forward to doing most of it in the race.”

David Williams (Porsche 911 RSR #94): “To lock out the front row and have four cars in the top six overall is an incredible result for the whole team! I was a little conservative on my first run and a bit scrappy on my second but still very happy to put the number 94 car in sixth position for the race.”

Result Porsche participants

1. Joshua Rogers/Nick Tandy/Ayhancan Güven/Tommy Östgaard (AUS/GB/TR/N), Porsche 911 RSR, 3:46,550 min
2. Mitchell DeJong/André Lotterer/Neel Jani/Martin Pietilä (USA/D/CH/FIN), Porsche 911 RSR, 3:47,182 min
3. Kevin van Dooren/Riccardo Pera/Loek Hartog/Michael Francesconi (NL/I/NL/I), Porsche 911 RSR, 3:47,819 min
4. Jeremy Bouteloup/Jaxon Evans/Matt Campbell/Mack Bakkum (F/NZ/AUS/NL), Porsche 911 RSR, 3:47,965 min
5. David Williams/Patrick Pilet/Simona de Silvestro/Martin Krönke (GB/F/CH/D), Porsche 911 RSR, 3:48,213 min
6. Zbigniew Siara/Dylan Pereira/Matteo Cairoli/Tim Neuendorf (POL/LUX/I/D), Porsche 911 RSR, 3:48,897 min
7. Adam Maguire/Ben Barker/Andrew Watson/Eros Masciulli (IRL/GB/GB/I), Porsche 911 RSR, 3:48,931 min
8. Danny Giusa/Laurents Hörr/David Kolkmann/ Lukas Müller (D/D/D/D), Porsche 911 RSR, 3:50,226 min

Bathurst to host Round 4 of Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup

The best local and international Porsche drivers do battle on Mount Panorama

After three thrilling virtual rounds, the country’s best Porsche Mobil Pro and Pro-Am drivers take on the infamous Mount Panorama Circuit on the iRacing platform for Round 4 of the Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup.

At the mid-point of the season, present and former McElrea Racing drivers occupy the top three positions in the Mobil Pro class overall. After six classy victories from the last six races, Cooper Murray has built up a 72-point advantage over Porsche Junior international driver, Jaxon Evans.

Evans has challenged Murray in all three rounds to date, but has not been able to close the gap to the dominant Melbourne resident in the overall leader board.

Murray’s real world teammate, Harri Jones, occupies third spot- a further 63-points behind Evans – with three rounds remaining. With Porsche factory driver, Matt Campbell, unavailable for the Bathurst races on Monday evening – following his participation in the Virtual Le Mans 24-Hour this weekend – the top three are likely to again be challenged by the likes of Callum Hedge and Matthew Payne for race honours.

Others in contention include Christian Pancione and Porsche Asia Pacific regulars Will Bamber and Reid Harker, with the likes of the UK’s Sam Brabham and Bathurst winner, Jono Webb regularly in the top 10.

In the Pro-Am class, Matthew Belford will be looking to replicate the form he showed in Monza last time out and close the gap to the ever-consistent form of Dean Cook and Graham Williams, who share the top two class positions.

Others to watch include John Goodacre and Brett Boulton, having both shown strong pace at various points of the Virtual Cup season so far.

Post-race highlights of each event will be broadcast on Porsche Motorsport Australia social channels, with all three races broadcast on the @PorscheMotorsportAU Facebook and Youtube channels at 20:00 (Melbourne time) on Friday 19 June.

Follow Porsche Motorsport Australia on Facebook and Instagram @PorscheMotorsportAU to keep up-to-date with information about the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Australia Championship.

Entry list: Round 4 – Bathurst

Jordan Love prepares for Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season after a freak hip injury

Reigning Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Champion given the all-clear after surfing accident

2019 Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia Champion, Jordan Love, has been given the all-clear to travel and compete in the 2020 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season, after a freak surfing accident.

Based at his family home in Western Australia during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, Love fell badly while surfing, cracking his hip bone in three places.

Love recalls, “I knew straight away I had done something bad to my hip. I have never felt pain quite like that before. After I finally got dragged out of the water, I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. I knew it was broken straight away because my hip bone was sticking out, so it was never going to be good. Scans showed the extent of the injury and that my hip needed to be operated on. Luckily it was the top of my hip bone and not near the joint.”

After undergoing surgery to reassemble his hip with a plate and two screws 60mm in length, Love spent four nights in hospital.

“After breaking my hand last year in that crash in Darwin, I was lucky I had someone to call who knew me and what needed to happen to get me back into the car as soon as possible,” Love said.

With two weeks of rest and recovery following the operation, Love is making great progress to get his mobility and strength back to where it needs to be to get into his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. While Love has been given the all-clear to re-join his Fach Auto Tech team in Europe in time for the start of the Supercup season, his injuries will present some challenges and pain in competition this year.

“If there was a year to have a freak accident, this was the one.” Love said in jest of his first international season abroad.

“But now that the Supercup season calendar has been concreted in, I’m very excited to get back into it. This year was always about preparation for next year, with a new team, new tracks and completely new competition.  I expect it to be a year with a lot of learning, but a challenge I’m extremely excited for.”

Having not been in a car since attending the Porsche Junior Shootout in November last year will also present its challenges for Love. The back-to-back rounds at the same tracks in the revised 2020 Supercup calendar, will be something new for all the rookie drivers this year.

The revised 2020 Porsche Mobil1 Supercup season gets underway as the support race for the opening FIA Formula One Grand Prix at Spielberg in Austria on the 3-5 July.

Revised 2020 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup calendar

Round 1 – Spielberg, Austria – 3-5 July

Round 2 – Spielberg, Austria – 10-12 July

Round 3 – Budapest, Hungary – 17-19 July

Round 4 – Silverstone, Great Britain – 31 July-02 August

Round 5 – Silverstone, Great Britain – 07-09 August

Round 6 – Barcelona, Spain – 14-16 August

Round 7 – Spa, Belgium – 28-30 August

Round 8 – Monza, Italy – 04-06 September

Murray dominates Round 3 of the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup

Cooper Murray extends Virtual Championship lead in a dominant performance at Monza

Following two split-second photo finishes in Round 2 in Daytona, the close racing continued between the country’s best Porsche drivers in Monza for Round 3 of the Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup.

Championship leader, Cooper Murray claimed his sixth victory in a row, and by doing so, extends his Mobil Pro Championship lead to 72 points over Porsche Junior driver, Jaxon Evans in second.

As in Daytona, the slipstreaming effect among the field’s front runners in the Mobil Pro class was again a factor in the lead changes on the long straights and sweeping turns which characterize the famous Grand Prix Circuit at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

Murray signalled his intentions early, topping the practice timesheets, 0.3 seconds clear of young go-karter, Matthew Payne and Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell. The Phase 8 McElrea Racing driver would start Race 1 in second behind young, Formula Ford star Cody Burcher.

The field’s usual suspects in Payne and Campbell rounded out the top four positions respectively, with the quartet promising to resume the tight, on track tussle they displayed in Daytona.

Burcher made the best of his pole position off-the-line to lead Murray and Evans (who started from fifth) on the first lap. Harri Jones and Campbell lost touch with leading trio midway through the first lap, after the front pack was split avoiding a spinning Aaron Love.

With Murray, Burcher and Evans swopping positions lap-after-lap, it would be Murray who would take the lead a final time and defend the position to the flag. The Pro-Am field, by contrast, was more spread out by the end of the first 20-minute sprint race, with Matthew Belford coming home over 20 seconds ahead of Graham Williams and John Goodacre.

Belford was able to repeat his winning performance in Race 2, coming home four seconds ahead of the Porsche Team entry of McElrea Racing’s Jamie Ross on that occasion, with Sergio Pires in third.

In the Mobil Pro field, Evans would make the best from the front row but out-brake himself into turn 1, handing the lead and advantage to Murray, Jones and Burcher. Campbell and Payne would also clash in the early laps dropping the pair down the 40-car field and out of contention for the remainder of the round.

As the race progressed, both Murray and Burcher would overtake Jones, while Evans would lose ground after making contact with a lapped backmarker.

The race was settled when Murray and Burcher made contact in the final stages, with Burcher running wide as a result. Evans meanwhile, would recover to second position after Jones spun on the final lap.

The final race of the evening would again see Evans lead off-the-line from and run wide into the first turn. The Porsche Junior would then clash with another backmarker mid-race dropping him to fourth behind Murray, Burcher and Jones.

Unlike the first two races, Murray was never challenged and by the end of the race crossed the line over four seconds ahead of Burcher.

After a huge start-line pile-up at the rear of the field, Pro-Am Championship leader, Dean Cook would emerge unscathed to take the class win from Marcel Zalloua and Emanual Palyaris. Cook now holds a 37-point lead over Graham Williams heading into Round 4. Round 4 of the Porsche PAYCE & MICHELIN Virtual Cup will take place on the 15 June at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst.

All three races from Round 3 in Monza will be shown on both the @PorscheMotorsportAU Youtube channel and Facebook page at 20:00 (Melbourne time) on Friday evening.

Results: Round 3, Monza  

Race 1

Mobil Pro

1. Cooper Murray
2. Jaxon Evans
3. Cody Burcher

Pro-Am

1. Matthew Belford
2. Graham Williams
3. John Goodacre

Race 2

Mobil Pro

1. Cooper Murray
2. Jaxon Evans
3. Cody Burcher

Pro-Am

1. Matthew Belford
2. Jamie Ross
3. Sergio Pires

Race 3

Mobil Pro

1. Cooper Murray
2. Cody Burcher
3. Harri Jones

Pro-Am

1. Dean Cook
2. Marcel Zalloua
3. Emanuel Palyaris

Porsche announces dates and details for 2020 Junior Shootout

Porsche confirms details and Michelin Juniors in contention for the 2020 Junior Shootout nomination

Following a two month break in global motorsport – due the unprecedented steps implemented across the globe to stop the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic – Porsche Motorsport has announced the dates for the Porsche Junior Shootout in 2020 after global restrictions start to ease.

The announcement also reaffirms that the Porsche Michelin Junior Programme will again resume, once the country’s premier one-make Championship returns to race tracks in the coming months.

The scheduled dates for Porsche Junior Shootout are 01 to the 04 December and as in 2019, will again take place at an undisclosed European race track. Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia Champion, Jordan Love, attended the 2019 Shootout at the Portimao circuit in Portugal which opened the door for the West Australian to join the Fach Auto Tech team for the 2020 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season.

The main goal for all Michelin Junior drivers in Australia is an opportunity to be nominated to attend the Porsche Motorsport Junior Programme Shootout. The Shootout continues to play a crucial role in the development of the best emerging talent globally and is seen as the benchmark pathway for talented drivers to progress to the highest level, following in the footsteps of Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell and Porsche Junior driver, Jaxon Evans.

The driver who wins the Michelin Junior competition in the Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia Championship will be nominated to attend the Porsche Junior Shootout at the end of the 2020 season.

Earlier this year five of the most talented young drivers in Australia were selected as Michelin Juniors for the 2020 season. That list included current both Mobil Pro Championship leader, Cooper Murray, and Albert Park Round winner, Cameron Hill together with Sonic Motor Racing teammates Aaron Love and Max Vidau, as well as 2019 Michelin Sprint Challenge Champion, Harri Jones.

Porsche Cars Australia will also include three young drivers from the Michelin Sprint Challenge field in the Junior Program for 2020. This includes McElrea Racing teammates Christian Pancione and Ryan Suhle as well as Sonic Motor Racing’s young Formula Ford graduate, Courtney Prince.

To be eligible as a Michelin Junior in 2020, Michelin Sprint Challenge drivers must be aged under 23 as of January 01, 2020, while Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup drivers must be aged under 25 as of January 01, 2020.

All Michelin Juniors in each series must commit to a full season and carry additional Michelin Junior branding on their racing apparel and Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. All eligible young drivers across both Michelin Sprint Challenge and Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup, will have access to a significant prize pool for the 2020 season, which they earn through their overall round results achieved throughout the season.

Further details regarding the revised 2020 calendar and start date for both the Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Championship and the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge series will be announced in the coming weeks.

VIDEO LINK: Porsche Michelin Junior Programme 2019 review: https://youtu.be/CB1OHplS3jI

VIDEO LINK: Porsche Michelin Junior Training Days 2019:  https://youtu.be/cquPduF6iqw

David Reynolds to make Porsche return in Round 3 of Virtual Cup

Former Carrera Cup champion to take on the best local and international Porsche drivers in Monza

2007 Porsche Carrera Cup Champion, David Reynolds will get behind the wheel of a virtual Porsche 911 Cup car on Monday evening when the Penrite Racing Supercar driver lines up against the best local and international Porsche drivers in the Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup.

Round 3 of the online championship takes place on the Autodromo Nazionale Monza Grand Prix circuit on the iRacing platform over three scheduled 20-minute sprint races. The fixed set-up races will all be held on clear sunny conditions, in contrast to the series’ first night races in Daytona last time out.

So far the race action has been intense with multiple lead changes and photo finishes characterizing the last two Porsche Virtual Cup races. Round 3 should be no different with the slipstreaming effect down Monza’s long straights sure to provide plenty of action in both the Mobil Pro and Pro-Am classes.

At the sharp end of the field, the Phase 8 McElrea Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Cooper Murray leads the Mobil Pro Championship after showing blistering pace and consistency at every round. The young Melbourne driver is expected to resume his lap-by-lap battle with young NZ karting star, Matthew Payne, as well as international Porsche stars, Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans.

Harri Jones, Callum Hedge and Christian Pancione have all shown they have the pace too, to take line honours with strong performances in each of the first two rounds.

Pro-Am class leader, Dean Cook will have a good opportunity to increase his class lead over Graham Williams and John Goodacre in Monza, with second-placed Rob Woods unfortunately not available. Woods was just five points adrift of Cook heading into the Italian round.

The Virtual Cup Team entry for Round 3 – which affords nominated crew members of Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup teams to compete – will be entrusted to Jamie Ross from McElrea Racing. Timothy McReynolds of Wall Racing impressed all in the Team entry, taking two Pro-Am victories in the last round.

Other debutants joining the 39-car field for the first time in Monza include Formula Ford rising star, Cody Burcher and NZ V8 Super Touring car driver, Alexandra Whitley.

Post-race highlights of each event will be broadcast on Porsche Motorsport Australia social channels, with all three races broadcast on the @PorscheMotorsportAU Facebook and Youtube channels at 20:00 (Melbourne time) on Friday evening.

Follow Porsche Motorsport Australia on Facebook and Instagram @PorscheMotorsportAU to keep up-to-date with information about the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Australia Championship.

Entry list: Round 3  – Monza

Podium result for Van Gisbergen and Porsche in IMSA iRacing Pro Series

Podium result for Porsche at the virtual Virginia International Raceway

Porsche has notched up another success at round five of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series on the virtual Virginia International Raceway in Alton (USA). The New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen concluded the 90-minute race on second place at the wheel of the No. 97 Porsche 911 RSR. Works driver Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium was stymied by bad luck. After a strong qualifying performance, the reigning champion of the real IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship was thrown far down the field after touching another car in lap one. The American Shinya Mishimi put in another impressive drive to finish fourth at the wheel of his No. 86 Porsche 911 RSR.

Van Gisbergen, who stars in the Australian Supercars Championship, had taken up the virtual race from fifth on the grid with the Porsche 911 RSR entered by the AIM Vasser Sullivan team. Over the race distance, the experienced touring car driver kept out of trouble and, with patience and oversight, held a steady course for the podium. Shortly before the end of the penultimate round of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series, the 31-year-old from Auckland profited from several incidents among the frontrunners to ultimately take the flag in second after 50 laps, just 4.957 seconds behind the winner.

For the Porsche works driver Vanthoor, the dream of scoring a top result in the sim racing competition on the tradition-steep 5.26-kilometre circuit was shattered early on. Starting from the fourth grid spot, the Belgium became entangled in an incident in the first lap and dropped back to 34th place. Putting in a spirited charge, Vanthoor worked his way back up to twelfth place by the mid-way mark, only to have a pit stop and subsequent damage repairs undo his good work. The 29-year-old Belgian, who lives in the German town of Waiblingen, finished his race on P38.

The sixth and final race on the IMSA iRacing Pro Series calendar takes place on 11 June at the virtual and venerable track of Watkins Glen (USA).

<strong>Comments on the race</strong>
<strong>Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche 911 RSR #912):</strong> “I was extremely unlucky in this race. My qualifying result was strong; position four was great progress for me compared to the previous sim racing competitions. I deliberately tried to keep out of any trouble in the starting phase. I kept well clear of the other drivers, but then a typical phenomenon of online racing threw everything into disarray. Some driver close to me apparently had a poor internet connection. The iRacing platform then assesses some situations as contact, when in fact there was none. In the replay, you can see that I didn’t touch anyone. I suddenly spun like crazy and was hit by several cars. That was the end of that.”

<strong>Results Porsche participants</strong>
2. Shane van Gisbergen (NZ), Porsche 911 RSR #97, 50 laps
4. Shinya Michimi (USA), Porsche 911 RSR #86, 50 laps
11. Corey Lewis (USA), Porsche 911 RSR #48, 50 laps
12. Benjamin Waddell (USA), Porsche 911 RSR #98, 50 laps
20. Kyle Masson (USA), Porsche 911 RSR #38, 50 laps
27. Michael de Quesada (USA), Porsche 911 RSR #014, 48 laps
29. Scott Hargrove (CDN), Porsche 911 RSR #92, 47 laps
33. Robert Wickens (CDN), Porsche 911 RSR #9, 41 laps
34. AJ Allmendinger (USA), Porsche 911 RSR #60, 36 laps
35. James Vance (CDN), Porsche 911 RSR #32, 33 laps
38. Laurens Vanthoor (B), Porsche 911 RSR #912, 29 laps
39. Riley Dickinson (USA), Porsche 911 RSR #53, 28 laps
41. Parker Chase (USA), Porsche 911 RSR #19, 27 laps

Porsche names Campbell and Evans in Virtual Le Mans 24 Hour Esports team

Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans Preview - Porsche drivers join forces with sim racers

Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans have been named as part of the newly-established Porsche Esports team which will tackle the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans on 13/14 June. Porsche will field four 2017-spec Porsche 911 RSR in the GTE class, the same class they contest in the real world.

At the digital race on the legendary Circuit des 24 Heures in the French department of Sarthe, Porsche works drivers, juniors and young professionals will also share driving duties with seasoned sim racers – these professionals from the online and offline worlds will join forces to fight for honours.

A total of 16 drivers make up the Porsche Esports squad. The debut of the ultimate sim racing endurance event involving the works drivers is partnered by the online simulation platform rFactor2.

“Under the current circumstances, the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans offers an excellent opportunity to reach many fans around the world,” says Pascal Zurlinden, Director Factory Motorsport at Porsche. “Le Mans is considered the most traditional long-distance race and the digital version can now attract a completely new target group to professional motor racing. I’m curious to see how the combination of works drivers and elite sim racers will work.”

The virtual 24-hour race on the 13.626-kilometre circuit at Le Mans promises to be a lifelike and entertaining competition on a high racing niveau. Long before the coronavirus pandemic, Porsche had set its sights on the professionalization of online motorsport and last year expanded its motorsport activities to include sim racing. For the digital 24-hour event, the marque now combines its expertise from real and virtual motorsport for the first time. Marco Ujhasi, Manager Esports at Porsche Motorsport: “With the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans, two worlds converge. The passion for racing now builds the bridge between the real and virtual worlds. The know-how from the racetracks and the skills required on simulation platforms come together in the newly-founded Porsche Esports team. This unique synergy opens up new possibilities for everyone involved. Just like in real-life racing, the virtual motorsport marathon
requires not only a perfect setup and decent pace but also a little bit of luck.”

Last year, Porsche took home all four GT titles and a class win from Le Mans with the ca. 510 hp 911 RSR as part of the real FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). With 108 class wins and 19 overall victories, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in the almost 100-year history of the Le Mans endurance event. The first virtual edition of the classic marks the start of a new chapter.

 Drivers for the Porsche Esports team (all Porsche 911 RSR)

No. 91:

André Lotterer (DE) / Neel Jani (CH) / Mitchell Dejong (USA) / Martti Pietilä (FIN)

No. 92:

Jaxon Evans (NZ) / Matt Campbell (AUS) / Mack Bakkum (NED) / Jeremy Bouteloup (FRA)

No. 93:

Nick Tandy (GB) / Ayhancan Güven (TR) / Josh Rogers (AUS) / Tommy Ostgaard (NOR)

No. 94:

Patrick Pilet (F) / Simona DeSilvestro (CH) / Martin Krönke (DE) / David Williams (GB)

The schedule (all times CEST)

The virtual Le Mans 24-hour race will start on Saturday, 13 June 2020, at 3 pm local time. Prior to this, a free practice will be held on Wednesday (10 June) and Thursday (11 June) from 10 am to 10 pm each day. Friday (12 June) offers an additional free practice session from 10 am to 5 pm. The 15-minute qualifying session for the GTE class begins on Friday at 6.15 pm.

Murray takes clean sweep of victories in Round 2 of the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup

Barcelona and Daytona deliver three nail-biting finishes and plenty of action

From the very first lap of practice on the Grand Prix Circuit at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya on Monday evening, Porsche factory driver, Matt Campbell made his intentions clear to the rest of the Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup and Michelin Sprint Challenge drivers in the virtual field.

The Bathurst 12-Hour winner was clearly not here to play, he was here to win, topping the timesheets ahead of Michelin Junior, Cooper Murray, and Porsche Junior driver, Jaxon Evans. The prospect of seeing Porsche’s international superstars go head-to-head with the best young drivers from Australia’s premier one-make championships was mouth-watering for all and the ensuing races didn’t disappoint.

As the drivers lined up for Race 1 of the Virtual Cup, Campbell started on pole with young New Zealand karting ace, Matthew Payne in second followed by Murray, Evans, and reigning Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Champion, Harri Jones.

In the Pro-Am class, it was Wall Racing’s Tim McReynolds who narrowly edged out Dean Cook for 13^th position on the start grid – six places ahead of nearest rival Brett Boulton.

Payne made a good start off the line and marginally headed Campbell and the charging Mobil Pro field into Turn 1. Three-wide, with Payne and Murray on his inside, Campbell was squeezed onto the dirty line, resulting in him spinning the rear of the 911 GT3 Cup Car to the outside of the corner.

As the dust settled, it was Payne leading Murray, Jones, Christian Pancione, and Evans, with Campbell rejoining way down the field in twelfth. By Lap 5, Payne and Murray had pulled a slight gap on the rest of the field, while Campbell had already recovered to eighth.

McReynolds and Cook were never headed in the Pro-Am class and would go onto claim the top two class positions from John Goodacre and Rob Woods – the latter pairing split in the overall timesheets by none other than Bathurst winner Jono Webb, such was the quality of the field.

Murray would eventually overtake Payne for the Mobil Pro race lead into turn 1 on Lap 8 and hold that advantage to the line. Evans, Jones, Pancione would round out the top five with Campbell recovering to sixth by the time the flag fell.

Race 2 would mark the first night race of the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Championship and take place on the Daytona International Speedway. Murray, Payne, and Evans would again set the early pace with Campbell moving up to fifth.

Daytona’s long banked oval saw the front drivers slipstreaming one another lap-after-lap before jostling for position into the first turn. With Payne and Evans in close attendance, Murray managed to defend his lead for six successive laps by holding the inside line and forcing the following pair to try to overtake around the outside.

Payne eventually made the move stick on lap 8, but unluckily got caught up behind a backmarker two laps later, handing the lead back to Murray and Evans. Despite the 2018 Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Champion taking the lead from Murray in the final stages, Murray timed his final move to perfection, coming out of Evans slipstream to cross the line just 0.024secs ahead of the highly-rated Kiwi. Jones would take the final podium spot followed by Payne, with Will Bamber and Cameron Hill filling the top six.

Tim McReynolds would again impress with a convincing Pro-Am win for the Wall Racing Team entry, followed by Graham Williams, Matthew Belford, and Dean Cook.

The third and final race of the night again proved to be a titanic race-long battle between Murray, Campbell and Payne. The race lead would change more than seven times and climax on the last straight with the trio crossing the line three abreast in a photo finish. The timesheets showed Murray first, a mere 0.034secs ahead of Campbell and 0.06secs ahead of Payne, with Evans edging out Supercup counterpart Joey Mawson for fourth overall.

After a brilliant debut, Tim McReynold’s luck would run out retiring on Lap 5 of the last race. That left Rob Woods to take the Pro-Am Race 3 win from Sergio Pires and David Ryan. Woods is now only five points behind Cook in the Pro-Am championship, while Murray’s hard-fought victories see him as the new leader in the Mobil Pro class ahead of Evans and Jones.

All three races will be shown on both the @PorscheMotorsportAU Youtube channel and Facebook page at 20:00 (Melbourne time) on Friday evening.

The third round of the Porsche PAYCE and Virtual Cup will take place on the 1^st June at the Grand Prix Circuit of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, in Italy.

Results: Round 2

Race 1 – Barcelona

1. Cooper Murray
2. Matthew Payne
3. Jaxon Evans
4. Harri Jones
5. Christian Pancione

Race 2 – Daytona

1. Cooper Murray
2. Jaxon Evans
3. Harri Jones
4. Matthew Payne
5. Will Bamber

Race 3 – Daytona

1. Cooper Murray
2. Matt Campbell
3. Matthew Payne
4. Jaxon Evans
5. Joey Mawson

Jones and Murray to go head-to-head with Evans and Campbell in Round 2

International Porsche stars take on the best local drivers in Barcelona and Daytona

After an action-packed Round 1 of the Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup in Phillip Island, both past and present Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup and Michelin Sprint Challenge drivers will do battle this evening on the first of two international circuits featured on the six-round virtual championship.

Porsche factory driver, Matt Campbell makes his debut in the championship and will go head-to-head not only with best friend and Porsche Junior driver, Jaxon Evans but also the best Mobil Pro drivers from Australia’s premier one-make championships.

Campbell and Evans face strong opposition from reigning Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Champion, Harri Jones who leads the Porsche Virtual Championship after Round 1, sharing race victories with pole-sitter Cooper Murray and Callum Hedge. The Helimods driver holds a slender five-point lead ahead of fellow Michelin Junior, Murray, with Porsche Junior, Evans a further six points adrift in third.

Other Michelin Junior drivers to watch for Round 2 include Aaron Love, Christian Pancione, and Ryan Suhle who all had strong performances in the opening round. Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup star, Joey Mawson is also likely to be a contender in Barcelona due to his experience on the fast European circuits throughout his career.

The list of international drivers also includes Sam Brabham and the Porsche Asia Pacific entries of Will Bamber and Reid Harker. The Team New Zealand pair, have confirmed that along with Campbell and Evans, they too will contend all six rounds of the series.

The Virtual Cup Team entry for Round 2 – which affords nominated crew members of Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup teams to compete – will be entrusted to Timothy McReynolds of Wall Racing for Monday evening, while Tony Quinn makes his debut as a wildcard entry.

Dean Cook and Brett Boulton were the pick of Pro-Am drivers in Round 1 and regularly featured among the top five drivers overall in Phillip Island. The pair lead the Pro-Am class into Barcelona ahead of Rob Woods and Graham Williams.

Race 1 starts at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya Grand Prix Circuit at 19:50, before switching to the Daytona International Speedway road course for two 20min night races.

Post-race highlights of each event will be broadcast on Porsche Motorsport Australia social channels, with all three races broadcast on the @PorscheMotorsportAU Facebook and Youtube channels at 20:00 (Melbourne time) on Friday evening.

Follow Porsche Motorsport Australia on Facebook and Instagram @PorscheMotorsportAU to keep up-to-date with information about the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Australia Championship.

Quotes:

Matt Campbell, Porsche Factory driver

“Really happy to be joining the Porsche PAYCE & MICHELIN Virtual Cup grid tonight for Round 2, looked to be mega fun last week when Jaxon was taking part so just had to join in on the action! It should be great to race against some familiar names and some new ones!”

Jaxon Evans, Porsche Junior Driver

“It’s a really cool opportunity to join the Porsche PAYCE & MICHELIN Virtual Cup, for the remainder of the championship. A lot of familiar faces/voices of the guys we used to race against makes for a lot of fun and laughs, while the young guys prove to be very stiff competition. The calendar features some of the world’s most iconic tracks and a couple of night races thrown in the mix will be sure to spice things up for everyone. It’s great to see Porsche Motorsport Australia give their drivers the opportunity to get their racing fix and stay connected during the current situation.”

Entry list: Round 2  – Barcelona / Daytona

Marc Cini claims the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Virtual Edition Pro-Am title

Larry ten Voorde wins both races and claims the championship title

The final round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Virtual Edition, saw Team Australia’s Marc Cini earn the decisive points from race eight and claim overall victory in the Pro-Am class. The final doubleheader round on the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, would also witness Larry ten Voorde (Team GP Elite) win both Pro class races in his 485 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and be crowned the overall champion.

The Dutchman snatched the trophy from his toughest rivals Porsche Junior Ayhancan Güven (TR/Martinet by Alméras) and Dylan Pereira (L/BWT Lechner Racing). The winners of the other classifications were also decided in the digital series of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Leon Köhler (D/Lechner Racing Middle East) achieved first place in the rookie category, with the GP Elite squad from the Netherlands celebrated first place in the team classification.

In the two 25-minute races, the 29-strong field made good use of slipstreaming to overtake, especially on the long straights on the virtual Monza circuit, treating fans to some action-packed racing. After the start of race seven, polesitter Güven immediately ducked to the inside and fended off ten Voorde. In lap four, the GP Elite driver inherited the lead when Güven slid from the track and fell back to position four. The final lap turned turbulent: In the Seconda Variante turn, Güven took the kerb hard and lost two places. Ten Voorde went on the take the flag in first place followed by Pereira and the rookie Köhler. Trailing the trio, the two Porsche Juniors Güven and Jaxon Evans (NZ/Momo Megatron Lechner Racing) concluded their first race of the day in positions four and five. Roar Lindland (N/Pierre Martinet by Alméras) won the ProAm class.

In the final race of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Virtual Edition, ten Voorde achieved a convincing lights-to-flag victory, which handed him the title. “I did a lot of preparation work with my team for these two races. Ayhancan Güven and I put on a great show for the fans. I managed to control the race well and I’m delighted with the title,” said ten Voorde.

In hot pursuit, Pereira left the racetrack and fell back to fifth place. Evans, Köhler and Güven then formed the trio chasing ten Voorde. The decisive move for second place came in lap six: Güven made the most of the heated battle in front of him to sweep past Köhler and then his junior teammate Evans. The order at the flag was Güven ahead of Köhler and Evans. Pereira rounded off the top five.

“That was an action-packed debut season for the virtual Supercup. Unfortunately, I only finished second, but it was a terrific experience. I hope we can soon compete against each other on real racetracks,” said Güven. Thanks to his two podium results today, Leon Köhler won the rookie classification. “I’ve improved from race to race over the season. Third place twice and the rookie title are great results. Jaxon Evans was determined to get past me in race two, but I managed to fend him off,” concluded Köhler.

Results
Monza, race 7 of 8
1. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite)
2. Dylan Pereira (L/BWT Lechner Racing)
3. Leon Köhler (D/Lechner Racing Middle East)
4. Ayhancan Güven (TR/Martinet by Alméras)
5. Jaxon Evans (NZ/Momo Megatron Lechner Racing)

Monza, race 8 of 8
1. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite)
2. Ayhancan Güven (TR/Martinet by Alméras)
3. Leon Köhler (D/Lechner Racing Middle East)
4. Jaxon Evans (NZ/Momo Megatron Lechner Racing)
5. Dylan Pereira (L/BWT Lechner Racing)

Points after 8 of 8 races
Drivers’ classification
1. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite), 180 points
2. Ayhancan Güven (TR/Martinet by Alméras), 166 points
3. Dylan Pereira (L/BWT Lechner Racing), 123 points