2022 Supercars ESeries Review

The 2022 Supercars Eseries absolutely sped by, and what an exciting event it was! The six events on virtual versions of some of the world’s most iconic tracks provided incredible finishes, surprise winners and some of the most extraordinary crashes you’ll ever see. Thankfully, no one was injured and the mechanics didn’t need to spend all right on the race repairs!

The mixture of professional racers and gamers – as professional as they may be – provides a unique and modern spectacle that is growing each year. Seeing the likes of Dayne Warren competing on the same stage as Brodie Kostecki changes dreams to reality, by providing a pathway for amateurs and pros to cross paths. The virtual Pro Series champ Warren was aiming for a three-peat and in the Walkinshaw Andretti Team and paid with Jayden Ojeda as his All Star co-driver.

The six events culminated in the Finale on August 24 at Oran Park. Fortunately it was digital as the current residents in this Sydney suburban estate wouldn’t have appreciated real Supercars racing past their front letterboxes! Madison Down was crowned as the Pro Series champion, and Brodie Kostecki took his second consecutive All Star title. Congratulations to them both!

Take a look at our review of the Supercars Eseries, as we unpack this exciting and growing event.

The Pros and the Virtual Pros love the Eseries

The 2022 Eseries was broken into two categories: the Pro Series and the All Star Series.

The Pro Series contains the pro-gamers, such as Brenton Hobson, who describes the Eseries as “the best place to compete and to compare myself with the best drivers”.

Justin Ruggier, who has carved out a very successful virtual racing career, described himself as “very grateful” that the Eseries has provided him with the opportunity to compete in a number of different supercars.

On the All Star side of the Eseries, we see the likes of Supercars Championship regulars Andre Heimgartner and James Golding. Heimgartner is considered a top sim racer and was selected to compete in the F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix debut in 2020, which emphasises just how competitive some racers are; they can’t get enough.

ESeries 2022 Review

Round 1 – Winton

Dayne Warren kicked things off with a narrow victory on the Pro side of the competition, finishing just three tenths of a second ahead of Jarrad Filsell. As for the All Stars, Brodie Kostecki confirmed his favouritism right from the start of the event, winning at Winton by nearly four seconds.

The best moment came when Matt McLean was knocked off course briefly by Tom Randle, but returned the favour with one of the more severe rear-end collisions you’ll ever see. Nothing quite like a revenge crash in the world of virtual racing!

• Pro Series Winner: Dayne Warren
• All Stars Winner: Brodie Kostecki

Round 2 – Sandown

The second round at Sandown was a combined race, teaming the Pros and the All Stars. Jarrad Filsell had the advantage of teaming up with Brodie Kostecki, and they were able to take full advantage of the elite pairing. At the pitstop changeover, a highly relaxed Filsell seemed to wipe some sleep from his eyes, before guiding the team to a comfortable victory that Kostecki had already set up.

The main highlight here was watching Kostecki absolutely zoom around the track during qualifying, finishing with comfortably the best time. With Sandown a new addition to iRacing, it was further proof of just how far he is ahead of the pack in this form of the sport.

• Pro Series Winner: Jarrad Filsell
• All Stars Winner: Brodie Kostecki

Round 3 – Michigan

As the races continued, we saw more and more exotic locations, such as the Michigan International Speedway. One of the great things about virtual racing is the money saved on not having to actually travel overseas. On the Pro Series side of things, we saw an incredible finish as Jarrad Filsell in the sprint as he timed his run beautifully to take down Jake Burton by 0.002 of a second to extend his championship lead. Remarkably, the visibly disappointed Burton was later awarded the win, as Filsell was given a five-second penalty. The short track made for a number of messy packs of cars competing for first spot, and it felt like a massive crash was never far away.

The All Stars Sprint was almost as exciting a finish, as Bradley Vaughan had a surprise late lead, but the tight track and desperate situation was too much, and a late crash saw him finish 8th. The other Kostecki – Jake – took this one out, grabbing the lead at the last moment.

• Pro Series Sprint Winner: Jake Burton
• Pro Series Combined Winner: Madison Down
• All Stars Sprint Winner: Jake Kostecki
• All Stars Combined Winner: Jayden Ojeda

Round 4 – Phillip Island

Round 4 saw the return to Australia with Phillip Island. Madison Down made it consecutive race wins as he and Brad Jones Racing teammate Jake Burton once again finished top 2.

Maybe the best moment was when Aaron Borg got gently nudged off the track by a tactically adept Jake Kostecki. A move that certainly is not acceptable in the real thing, but hey, when there’s no danger, there’s nothing quite like taking your opponents out of a race.

• Pro Series Winner: Madison Down
• All Stars Winner: Brodie Kostecki

Round 5 – Bathurst

As we moved closer to the end of the tournament, a virtual trip to Bathurst was on the agenda for Race 5. And even in virtual form, Mount Panorama always feels right. The sunshine, the mountain and even the sponsorship just feels so legitimate. Because of all the uniqueness of the circuit, this one felt the most authentic, even if some of the car realism was slightly lacking.

One particularly noteworthy moment was when Jordy Sinni’s Mustang went on a massive roll that saw him airborne. His car disappeared briefly, possibly due to internet connection issues, and he soon found his car stuck partially within another car, causing a massive crash. After the crash, which would have totaled a real car, Sinni just kept driving and finished seventh. This was all totally ridiculous, but one of the charms of virtual motor racing.

Predictably, Brodie Kostecki and Jarrad Filsell took it out, by just under half a second.

• Pro Series Winner: Jarrad Filsell
• All Stars Winner: Brodie Kostecki

Round 6 – Oran Park

The Finale was quite special for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is the only way to experience the long decommissioned Oran Park, which was in use for almost half a century until 2010. To have such a circuit still able to be used, even in such a non-traditional capacity, provides a nice nod to history for the traditionalists. The fact the championship finished there adds a special extra layer.

Madison Down led the Pro Series coming into the race. His third-place finish was enough to clinch the title, leading to a smile, a muted fist-pump, and some family members coming into his room to celebrate. It was a lovely moment that proved there is also a large human side to virtual racing.

• Pro Series Winner: Dayne Warren
• All Stars Winner: Brodie Kostecky

The future of the Eseries

This success of the Eseries was originally made possible by the need to replace a number of ‘real’ events during the pandemic. With a gap in the calendar, plenty of racers were available. Going back to the first ever Supercars Eseries race on the virtual Phillip Island track, we saw the likes of Shane van Gisbergen, Anton de Pasquale, and Chaz Mostert competing. It is worth watching that race, won by a very excited Scott McLaughlin. You might be shocked at the standard of the visuals.

The ‘fans choice’ which went to Michigan was an absolute winner, and one feels this feature will be kept for next year as well. Additionally, the layout and realism of the tracks are improving year on year.

Furthermore, the entire 2022 Supercars Eseries is available on YouTube, with full 2 hour coverage of each race. They are presented much like their real-life counterparts, right down to the camera angles and leaderboards in the corner. Of particular note is the approach drivers take to turning. It’s amazing how much more risk you can take safety is no barrier!

The interactive nature of the event also leads to some great moments. Many of the drivers are able to provide immediate interviews right after races from the comfort of their sim rigs.

The Eseries is covered by Fox Sports, 7Plus and, yet the majority of these races have in excess of 10 thousand views on youtube alone, so it is clear the event is very popular.

As for what to expect next year, on the All Star side, it really is hard to see anyone other than Brodie Kostecki taking it out, so long as he shows up. Five outright wins from seven races is difficult to look past. The Pro Series is far more unpredictable, and timing and tactics made a massive difference this year, with the guile of Madison Down getting him over the line. We expect to see Jake Burton take the next step next year, and potentially take it out.

Ready to experience the adrenaline of V8 racing first hand? Book now to come try our V8 drive and hot laps experiences to feel the thrill and power experienced by professional V8 racing drivers. We have a number of different events at tracks all over Australia throughout the year. We’ll see you there!