Porsche Coanda Esports, Bleu Mercure Esport Earn IMSA Esports Global Championship Class Wins at Sebring
By Justin Melillo
The bumps were tested and ultimately respected on Sunday afternoon as the IMSA Esports Global Championship took to Sebring International Raceway for the second round of the 2026 championship season ( race one recap here ). On paper, it was a relatively simple race in the fact that the two class pole sitters—the No. 91 Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team and the No. 132 Bleu Mercure Esport Porsche—wound up also in victory lane at the end of the day.
For the most part, that was true for the No. 132 team, that car split between Thibault Cazaubon and Corentin Lassine, as they managed the traffic from behind to win by over four seconds after two hours and 40 minutes of action. The same could not totally be said for the No. 91 team, that machine split by Alejandro Sánchez and Charlie Collins, who battled a potentially race altering fuel strategy, as well as, in Sánchez’s case, a throttle issue towards the conclusion of the day with the No. 8 Grid-and-Go.com eSports Valkyrie of Jake Denehan and Jere Lehtinen closing in towards the finish.
“I got that gap at the start, and the start lane being so small, I was actually a bit surprised at how big of a gap I got,” said Collins, who opened the day inside the No. 91 Porsche Coanda ride. “After that, I just kind of settled into a rhythm. I hadn’t done much traffic practice, so that was a bit stressful, going through traffic the first time, but after that, just kind of got into a good rhythm, and from there on, it was pretty smooth sailing at least for me personally.”
The smooth sailing wore off for that team for Sánchez, who also won the Porsche Esports Supercup event the day prior, towards the end of the event. “I was managing a broken throttle pedal,” Sánchez said. ” I wasn’t getting 100 percent, it was dancing around 70 percent. I had to push it with my whole body basically on the straights to make it go anywhere close. On the next corner, it would just go back to normal. It was like built-in TC. I don’t know how we managed, but we managed in the end.”
A less stressful victory awaited the No. 32 group moments later. Lassine started the race in the seat, and did everything he could to break off from the rest of the train. “The goal was just to keep the position until the traffic, and I managed to do well in the corners… they were all fighting, and I was basically gone,” Lassine said. His teammate, Cazaubon, brought it home from the switch-off point, managing that gap earned early. “Honestly, it was perfect,” said Cazaubon. “I just had to finish the race. We worked a lot on the setup, so we are very happy about the setup. We completely optimized the car.”
The winners of the first round in the GTP ranks, the No. 31 Bleu Mercure Esport Acura of Alxander Spetz and Atte Kauppinen, backed up their opening performance with another podium, finishing in third. The No. 8 Grid-and-Go Valkyrie has two second place runs to start the season. Those two teams have a nice gap on the rest of the field, with the No. 31 ahead of the No. 8 by just 13 points leaving Sebring.
As for the GTD contingent, the No. 132 jumps up to the lead, giving Bleu Mercure the points lead in both classes. The No. 107 Risi Competizione by GnG Ferrari, driven by Daniel Pásztor and Nicolas Mateo, only managed a sixth at Sebring, and the duo falls to second as a result, 23 points back.
As opposed to last week, both classes saw perfect point scores for the first time in the 2026 season. Weather stayed dry through the afternoon, and now just three rounds remain before two champions are crowned, the next battle up being in two weeks at Watkins Glen International.
SEBRING 240 | ROUND 2 | GTP RESULTS
| POS. | ST. | NO. | TEAM | MANUFACTURER | DRIVER 1 | DRIVER 2 | INTERVAL | PTS. |
| 1 | 1 | 91 | Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team | Porsche | Alejandro Sánchez | Charlie Collins | 0.000 | 385 |
| 2 | 3 | 8 | Grid-and-Go.com eSports | Aston Martin | Jake Denehan | Jere Lehtinen | -1.128 | 350 |
| 3 | 5 | 31 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Acura | Alxander Spetz | Atte Kauppinen | -11.044 | 326 |
| 4 | 6 | 1 | BMW M Verstappen Sim Racing | BMW | Diogo Pinto | Enzo Bonito | -12.279 | 305 |
| 5 | 11 | 92 | Vesta Sport | Porsche | Niklas Beu | Przemyslaw Lemanek | -23.399 | 280 |
| 6 | 9 | 81 | Coanda Esports | Porsche | Elliott Vayron | Victor Wolfsohn | -24.697 | 272 |
| 7 | 7 | 89 | BMW M Team BS COMPETITION | BMW | Daniel Lourenco | Jaden Munoz | -30.319 | 264 |
| 8 | 8 | 62 | SOELPEC Precision Racing | Aston Martin | Markus Søholm | Maximillian Muir | -46.396 | 253 |
| 9 | 10 | 32 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Acura | Augustin Bernier | Maxime Brient | -47.933 | 241 |
| 10 | 2 | 7 | Grid-and-Go.com eSports | Aston Martin | Peter Zuba | Aleix Nogué | -1:04.428 | 242 |
| 11 | 20 | 3 | Mivano | Acura | Loïc Rabier | Marcus Hamilton | -1:04.820 | 211 |
| 12 | 14 | 98 | P1Sim Pro Team | Cadillac | Lucas Bayle | Josh Lad | -1:06.019 | 207 |
| 13 | 18 | 4 | Mivano | Acura | Andrea Barilaro | Tanguy Billon | -1:27.128 | 193 |
| 14 | 19 | 96 | Tatum Res-Tech NordVPN | Cadillac | Nicolò Fioroni | Raffaele De Santis | -1:39.812 | 182 |
| 15 | 17 | 43 | XBD RACING SIMLAB | Cadillac | Unai Ortiz | Alberto García Blasco | -1 L | 174 |
| 16 | 16 | 69 | Tatum Res-Tech MOZA Racing | Cadillac | Mattia Isetta | Matteo Aurucci | -1 L | 165 |
| 17 | 13 | 88 | Deletraz Automotive by PCdesign | Porsche | Michal Zajac | Aiden Mataisz | -1 L | 158 |
| 18 | 12 | 78 | Maniti Racing | BMW | Philip Schiff | Adriano Di Chiara | -2 L | 149 |
| 19 | 15 | 17 | Maniti Racing | Aston Martin | Tristan Cabrera | Chris van de Nesse | -6 L | 136 |
| 20 | 4 | 33 | Verstappen Sim Racing | BMW | Chris Lulham | Luke McKeown | -57 L | 138 |
GTP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 2 AT SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
| POS. | NO. | TEAM | MANUFACTURER | PTS. | WINS | POLES | T-5’s | T-10’s |
| 1 | 31 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Acura | 708 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | 8 | Grid-and-Go.com eSports | Aston Martin | -13 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 91 | Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team | Porsche | -163 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 32 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Acura | -165 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | 62 | SOELPEC Precision Racing | Aston Martin | -183 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | 81 | Coanda Esports | Porsche | -185 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | 7 | Grid-and-Go.com eSports | Aston Martin | -200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | 92 | Vesta Sport | Porsche | -243 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | 33 | Verstappen Sim Racing | BMW | -247 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 4 | Mivano | Acura | -256 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
SEBRING 240 | ROUND 2 | GTD RESULTS
| POS. | ST. | NO. | TEAM | MANUFACTURER | DRIVER 1 | DRIVER 2 | INTERVAL | PTS. |
| 1 | 1 | 132 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Porsche | Thibault Cazaubon | Corentin Lassine | 0.000 | 385 |
| 2 | 4 | 179 | Alpha One by SX | Porsche | Luca Wunsch | Lewis Woods | -4.522 | 348 |
| 3 | 2 | 199 | Nova Legio Racing | Lamborghini | Kevin Ellis Jr | Yohann Harth | -6.916 | 332 |
| 4 | 3 | 142 | THE FARM | Porsche | Geoffrey Leemans | Baptiste Jimenez | -18.011 | 310 |
| 5 | 7 | 162 | VØRAX | Mercedes-AMG | Nicolás Rubilar | Felipe Cabrera Loyola | -23.281 | 284 |
| 6 | 10 | 107 | Risi Competizione by GnG | Ferrari | Daniel Pásztor | Nicolas Mateo | -34.447 | 271 |
| 7 | 6 | 124 | TC Esports | Chevrolet | Carlos Fenollosa | Pablo Espes | -34.96 | 265 |
| 8 | 13 | 196 | BS TURNER | BMW | Oskari Rinne | Daniel Lafuente | -35.113 | 248 |
| 9 | 18 | 126 | UNI-G Racing | Lamborghini | Dániel Oláh | Mate Varga | -40.687 | 233 |
| 10 | 12 | 115 | EMM Esports | Chevrolet | Luca Alpert | Jerome Fischer | -42.836 | 229 |
| 11 | 14 | 171 | BMW M Team MOUZ | BMW | Maximilian Benecke | Yurica Kasdorp | -50.274 | 217 |
| 12 | 9 | 198 | Nova Legio Racing | Lamborghini | Ricardo Rico R. | Daniel Antúnez | -55.227 | 212 |
| 13 | 16 | 112 | Fiercely Forward | Lamborghini | Niclas Laubisch | Luca Gramke | -1:04.101 | 195 |
| 14 | 17 | 128 | Vesta Sport | Ferrari | Sem Giesbers | Gaël Valero | -1:11.772 | 184 |
| 15 | 29 | 188 | WSR Esports | Aston Martin | Lukas Prada | Marley Joffe | -1:13.502 | 162 |
| 16 | 27 | 134 | natural elements by Walkenhorst | Aston Martin | Josh Thompson | Gregory Hovesen | -1:18.104 | 154 |
| 17 | 20 | 190 | UNI-G Racing | Ford | Mate Mihalidesz | Balazs Palla | -1:24.710 | 151 |
| 18 | 25 | 178 | Maniti Racing | Ford | Tim Kern | Ryan van de Grijp | -1:33.108 | 136 |
| 19 | 30 | 187 | WSR Esports | Aston Martin | Andrew Caron | Kamil Grabowski | -1:34.822 | 121 |
| 20 | 21 | 141 | THE FARM | Ferrari | Enzo Tebani | Nicolas Lux | -1:41.952 | 120 |
| 21 | 31 | 121 | Ronin-Sim-Sport.com | Mercedes-AMG | Shoma Shintani | Pablo Mercerat | -2:08.391 | 101 |
| 22 | 26 | 114 | EMM Esports | Chevrolet | Dáire McCormack | Martin Kadlečík | -2:14.369 | 95 |
| 23 | 5 | 109 | Team Purple Coanda | Ford | Andrea Aymon | Diana Perez | -1 L | 106 |
| 24 | 32 | 125 | SDR SIMRACING | Ford | Marcos Saavedra | Dino Filippa | -1 L | 71 |
| 25 | 22 | 144 | TC Esports Academy | Chevrolet | Miroslaw X Kravchenko | Vicente Aparicio | -3 L | 69 |
| 26 | 24 | 123 | SDR Simracing | BMW | Fabrizio Belziti | Juan Bleynat | -22 L | 57 |
| 27 | 11 | 110 | MAHLE RACING TEAM | BMW | Rainer Talvar | Felix Quirmbach | -23 L | 60 |
| 28 | 8 | 177 | Zero7 Racing | Porsche | Lorenzo Castellani | Juan Lemus | -29 L | 53 |
| 29 | 23 | 118 | Altitude FreeM eSports | Aston Martin | Harrison Crowther | Francis Mcginn | -62 L | 28 |
| 30 | 28 | 111 | Ronin-Sim-Sport.com | Ferrari | Lewis Barlow | Henry Joslyn | -66 L | 13 |
| 31 | 15 | 161 | VØRAX | Mercedes-AMG | Manuel Troncoso | Beckham Jacir | -69 L | 26 |
| 32 | 19 | 127 | Vesta Sport | Mercedes-AMG | Samuele Spiezio | Roberto Rebechi | -77 L | 22 |
GTD STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 2 AT SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
| POS. | NO. | TEAM | MANUFACTURER | PTS. | WINS | POLES | T-5’s | T-10’s |
| 1 | 132 | Bleu Mercure Esport | Porsche | 668 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | 107 | Risi Competizione by GnG | Ferrari | -23 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | 199 | Nova Legio Racing | Lamborghini | -111 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 124 | TC Esports | Chevrolet | -131 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | 171 | BMW M Team MOUZ | BMW | -153 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 179 | Alpha One by SX | Porsche | -169 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 196 | BS TURNER | BMW | -202 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | 114 | EMM Esports | Chevrolet | -217 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | 126 | UNI-G Racing | Lamborghini | -235 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | 134 | natural elements by Walkenhorst | Aston Martin | -236 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
2026 IMSA Esports Global Championship | Sebring International Raceway | Round 2 , opens in a new tab
NEXT RACE
After Sebring International Raceway, the series continues for the third race of the season at Watkins Glen International, in two weeks on October 25th.
Each race of the IMSA Esports Global Championship will be broadcasted live on IMSA’s and iRacing’s social channels with the Countdown to Green pre-race show beginning at 1:45 p.m. ET (18:45 GMT). Race coverage begins at 2:00 p.m. ET.
For more information on the IMSA Esports Global Championship, visit iracing.com/imsa-esports , opens in a new tab.
For more information about the Virtual Competition Organisation (VCO), visit vco-esports.com , opens in a new tab.
For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit iracing.com , opens in a new tab.