Last autumn, the 20-year-old was crowned champion of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup. Rogers has recently competed for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team in a virtual Porsche 99X Electric in the ABB Formula E “Race at Home Challenge”, as well as in the virtual version of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In episode nine of the “Inside E” podcast, Rogers discusses his origins in motorsport, his move from real to virtual motor racing, the parallels and differences between both worlds, and his collaboration with the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer.
“I have many positive memories of last year. Victory in the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup, in particular, was a milestone for me.” Joshua Rogers
Sim racing has enjoyed a real boom in recent months, thanks largely to the coronavirus pandemic. In the “Race at Home Challenge”, launched by Formula E, the regular drivers in the electric racing series competed alongside professional sim racers in a separate category. One name that featured regularly at the top of the results was that of Rogers who drove a digital Porsche 99X Electric for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team. He impressed with one victory and three podiums from a total of five starts.
The Australian’s passion for motorsport began in the real world. When he was given his first kart at the age of seven, he was a regular at racetracks down under. At the same time as karting, Rogers also began to use sim racing as part of training in 2014, and soon started to enjoy it.
In 2019, he made his hobby his profession. Winning the titles in the Porsche SimRacing Trophy and the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup were the breakthrough for the 20-year-old that also convinced him to move his life to Europe.
Rogers and teammates Nick Tandy, Ayhancan Güven and Tommy Ostgaard claimed their first virtual victory in the GTE class at the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans with the digital version of the Porsche 911 RSR race car on June 13 - 14.
Info
The Porsche Formula E podcast is available in English and can be downloaded in the Porsche Newsroom. “Inside E” is also available on other platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
