Max joins Porsche Esports championship, this Saturday at Zandvoort
Published on 30 April 2020 by Niels Hendrix
The Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup season begins: On Saturday (2 May), 40 top-class sim racers will go head-to-head in their virtual Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racing cars. Joining the grid line-up is Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen (NL/Team Redline Fanatec).
The Dutch Circuit Zandvoort hosts round one of the ten double-header events on the 2020 calendar. At this year’s Esports championship contested on the iRacing simulation platform, drivers will compete for a total purse of US$200,000.
Twenty of the 40 drivers contesting the championship secured a spot after taking part in a ten-week qualifying phase against more than 5,000 contenders. The top 20 sim racers from last season complete the world-class line-up, including reigning champion Joshua Rogers. The field is made up of drivers from 14 nations.
Like at all ten events, the Zandvoort race day consists of four sessions: A free practice is followed by a qualifying session run as an individual time trial, a sprint race over 15 minutes, then the 30-minute main race. Drivers earn points towards the championship from both races. Victory in the sprint event is rewarded with 25 points, with the winner of the main race receiving double the points. The top five qualifiers also receive additional points. The pole-sitter earns ten points for the overall classification.
Fans can follow the season-opener on Saturday on the official Porsche YouTube channel. iRacing also airs the races live on the video platforms YouTube and Twitch.
The schedule (2 May, all times CEST)
15:45 - 16:03 Free practice
16:03 - 16:15 Qualifying
16:17 - 16:32 Sprint race
16:34 - 16:44 Warm-up
16:45 - 17:15 Main race
The 2020 “Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup” schedule
Round 01 02/05/2020 Circuit Zandvoort
Round 02 09/05/2020 Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Round 03 23/05/2020 Donington Park Circuit
Round 04 13/06/2020 Circuit de la Sarthe
Round 05 04/07/2020 Nürburgring Nordschleife
Round 06 18/07/2020 Silverstone Circuit
Round 07 01/08/2020 Road Atlanta
Round 08 15/08/2020 Brands Hatch Circuit
Round 09 29/08/2020 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Round 10 19/09/2020 Autodromo Nazionale Monza
