In what is a huge step in the right direction, Porsche and iRacing partnered together to create the inaugural Porsche SimRacing Summit, held at the Porsche Headquarters in Leipzig, Germany. To take part in the event, there were two online qualifiers in a Time Attack format, the first being Laguna Seca and the second being Brands Hatch, both in the Porsche 911 Cup Car.
Andrew Kahl (AUS) & Marin Colak (CRO) from Logitech G Altus Esports would both qualifier for the elite field of 32, with drivers coming from all over the world for the event to contest for 30,000 Euro. Andrew qualified by virtue of setting a Top 15 time at Laguna Seca, whereas Marin qualified at the Brands Hatch qualifier.
The event itself was set up into multiple stages, with the first being an elimination round to bring the list of competitors down to the final 16. Andrew would qualify strongly in 6th place out of the 32 man field, however Marin would miss out, and get a bad qualifying draw. This made it very difficult to progress, and where Andrew was able to move to the Sunday race day, Marin unfortunately had to bow out of the competition.
On Sunday, the remaining drivers would be paired up by Porsche, resulting in some interesting but also mouth watering combinations, with each scenario resulting in usual teammates having to race with a usual foe, against their own regular teammate. It was an odd format, and perhaps something that needs to be reviewed in future, but for someone like Andrew who did not have an Altus Esports teammate left, it would have been required anyway for him. In his case, he was paired up with G2 Esports’ Sebastian Job, which on paper looked like a lethal combination.
It start off very strong indeed, with Andrew gaining an a pole position spot for Race 1, and Job bringing the car home in 2nd place.
In the reverse grid Race 2, Andrew started second last but was able to make some ground on the cars ahead, and finish in 5th place, narrowly behind Frederick Rasmussen and Mitchell Dejong.
Race 3 looked to be going very nicely, running in 2nd place Job made a late move for P1 only for it to go wrong, causing some damage and ultimately would result in a penalty, dropping their pair way down the order in the race, and overall.
Race 4 with the Porsche 919 LMP1 car at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps had the potential to be very good, with a 60 minute race and a driver change, a strong pairing would be a good pairing, so they had high hopes entering the race. However it would all come to a crushing end quite early, with an accident at the Bus Stop damaging the car beyond repair before Andrew would get to have a run, and their tilt at the podium was over.
Despite the result, the event itself was fantastic. Porsche and iRacing put together a fantastic event, and one we hope to share with you as soon as the video has been prepared for public release. Many thanks to our sponsors and partners, whom make it possible for us to do what we love, and to compete on the world stage.
