© Oracle Red Bull Sim RacingWebster Strikes Again – Thruxton Win Extends PESC LeadCooper Webster extended his lead at the top of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup standings with a wire-to-wire Feature Race win at Thruxton.
Withtworacesremaining,Websterholdsa38-pointadvantageoverfellowAustralian,2023winnerandclosestrivalJordanCaruso,havingpickedupagrandhaulof63pointsatThruxton.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Job is ninth in the Drivers’ Standings after a disappointing weekend that saw him finished P14 in the Feature Race.
With Fuji International Speedway and Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans still to come, the reigning champion will be hoping to climb the standings and build on the two Feature Race wins already to his name this year.
After a competitive qualifying session where neither Webster or Job was quite able to summon their best, the two drivers lined up for Sprint Race from P9 and P12 respectively.
COOPER LAP 1 BATTLE© Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing
Both drivers made a good start though, with Webster passing Diogo Pinto for eighth position in the opening stages and Job making his way up to 10th by the end of the end of the first lap.
However, a spin as he crossed the line to start Lap 3 caused Job to tumble down the order, dropping initially to P15. He was then involved in a collision with Julien Soenen that saw him leave the track once again, and eventually finished in P25.
As for Webster, he held onto P8 for the rest of the Sprint Race to secure valuable points in his title battle and guarantee pole position for the feature.
From pole, Webster had an incredible launch which enabled him to maintain his lead of the equally fast-starting Mitchell de Jong. Meanwhile, Job managed to gain five places on the opening lap to move up to P20.
SEB AVOIDS CRASH© Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing
Job continued his progress on Lap 2 with a nice move on Michael Janney, before passing Gustavo Ariel for 18th a few laps later. Meanwhile, Webster had managed to build himself a nice cushion to de Jong behind him, showing impressive pace in the process.
As the race progressed, Job continued to show off his overtaking prowess and came home in 14th place, a commendable effort given his starting position. However, he comes away from Thruxton ruing the early Sprint Race error that caused him to relinquish a very real chance of challenging for the win.
Having said that, it was hard to see anyone beating Webster, who absolutely dominated the race from the front and never came under any real pressure from behind. The Australian now has two Feature Race wins to his name this season and looks to be in the driving seat to claim 2025 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup title.
As the series heads to Fuji International Speedway next, Webster sits on 284 points ahead of Job who is on 173.
On another Feature Race win under his belt, Cooper said: “Very pleased with the result from Thruxton; although it wasn't my best qualifying, it was still good enough to stay inside the top 8 and get the reverse grid pole position in the feature, which I went on to win! It was a perfect round in terms of extending the championship lead, which is my goal from now and until the last lap of the season!”
Following an underwhelming result, Seb said: “Another very tricky round for me in PESC, bit of a season to forget. It’s very frustrating as my pace was really good, once again, but I keep having poor qualifying sessions. Working towards a strong final two rounds to end the season and support Cooper in practice”.
