The eighth season of the Porsche Esports Supercup on iRacing is set to get underway later this year and one of the competitors will be set to potentially step up to racing in a real life Porsche one-make series.
One of the highest profile sim racing esports championships there is, the Porsche Esports Supercup has been taking place since 2019. In that time, five drivers have become champion with the most recent being 2023 GB4 runner-up Cooper Webster.
There have been two drivers to win more than one. They are Red Bull simulator driver Sebastian Job who went on to drive one of their F1 cars, and Joshua Rogers who recently got a hat-trick of podium finishes in the opening round of the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB on the support package of the British Touring Car Championship.
Rogers (left) took two P3 finishes and a P2 at Donington Park in Porsche Sprint Challenge GB. Image: Porsche Newsroom
Well it would appear that Porsche are now making it their mission to get a driver from PESC into the real thing with their newly revamped format for the series.
Porsche Esports Supercup 2026: New Format
There are 32 grid slots open and two distinct ways to qualify, the first is through the dedicated global open qualifying series which will appear in the iRacing UI with races being from May 13th to June 6th. Drivers are ranked within their regions, with up to 32 participants per region advancing. Just like the eNASCAR Qualifying Series that is concluding soon, anyone can take part and it does not matter if you just fall short of top split as points can still be acquired.
Alternatively, there are three national level championships where the top three earn automatic qualification into the next stage. These are the Porsche Esports Carrera Cup Great Britain, Porsche Esports Carrera Cup North America and Porsche Esports Endurance Trophy Nürburgring. Some of these have already concluded with the drivers qualifying for that next stage.
That would be the Regional Championships where between June 27th and August 29th, there will be five races across four regions with the top eight drivers in the final standings of each region earning a place on the grid for the World Championship. The main series will also consist of five rounds from September 19th and October 24th, with the 32 drivers taking to some of the highest profile Grand Prix tracks Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone, Suzuka, Interlagos, and Monza.
Prize money will be on offer, though smaller than in past seasons with a total of $30,000 and a third of that going to the champion. But the top five in the final standings will have that all-important chance to get into real world racing via the Talent Shoot-Out at the Porsche Esports Performance Centre in Cologne. Through vigorous training and proving themselves in a real car, one will be selected to prepare for a seat in a Porsche one-make racing series.
The series will be streamed via Porsche's official Twitch channel, with the first broadcast on June 27th for the regional championships.
Will you be competing in the Porsche Esports Supercup Qualifying Series? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our iRacing forum!