Max second in Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup race Barcelona: 'Good result'

Published on 09 May 2020 by Kees-Jan Koster

Max Verstappen finished second in the second round of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. During the online race of twelve laps, forty of the world’s best sim racers compete for a two hundred-thousand-dollar prize-pool. After qualifying in tenth position, the Dutchman finished the sprint race in P7, from which he also started the race. In the main race Verstappen had a rocket launch. Max exited the first corner in third position and was able to move up one more position, finishing the main race second, his first podium in the championship. Maximilian Benecke, Verstappen’s teammate by Team Redline, won the race.

After the race Max says: “It was a good result for the team. I was quite upset after the first weekend. Where we did not have a good pace at all. We worked hard and made some good steps for this race. To finish first and second was very positive. The field is incredibly tight, it is really impressive and cool to be part of this.”

Despite the great result, it was not possible to win says Verstappen: “Max (Benecke) was very fast, so I could not really catch up. It was not really my intention, it was way more important to finish first and second as a team. Max is in general a bit faster, so no problems there. Hopefully we can do this a lot more this season.”

In the extreme competitive field are 39 drivers within seven tenths of a second of each other in qualifying. Max qualifies in a fine tenth position, after he had to settle for eleventh in the main race during the first round in Zandvoort last week.

After the start of the fifteen minutes lasting sprint race, Max is straight away in the battle and barely escapes a big crash in front of him. With a little bit of damage on his front bumper the Dutchman is in eight position after the first lap. Maximilian Benecke, Max’ teammate at Team Redline, has a superb start from P3 and takes the lead from Jarrad Filsel in the first corner. During the rest of the race Max overtakes the Finn Aleksi Uusi Jaakkola for seventh position, in which he finishes. Benecke winst he sprint race.

Result sprint race round 2 - Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup

Since the result of the sprint race is also the starting grid for the main race, Max may start from seventh position. At the start, Verstappen overtakes a few competitors on the outside of the first corner and is in third position when exiting the first corner. Verstappen positions himself well in the wake of the leaders Benecke and Sindre Setsaas, even overtaking the latter with more than twenty minutes to go.

Max’ second position is not endangered during the rest of the race, so he takes his first podium in the championship in which he is a rookie. Benecke wins the race, a one-two finish for Team Redline. In the championship Max is now in seventh position with 79 points.

In two weeks (on 23rd May from 15:45) the third of a total of twelve rounds of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup will take place. The forty drivers will this time drive at the Donington Park Circuit. Of course, you can follow the race from the official Porsche YouTube channel. iRacing also broadcasts the race live on their YouTube and Twitch channels.

Result main race round 2 - Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup