The award jury selected the German team as the recipient of the new award, ahead of Team Redline, R8G Esports and Williams Esports.

Last year was a breakthrough season for Coanda, with drivers Josh Rogers and Mitchell deJong fighting for the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup – the former prevailing, securing his second world championship.

Rogers went on to win the BMW SIM Live GT Cup, with team-mate Charlie Collins in second, while Keegan Leahy won the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, with colleague deJong in third.

In Le Mans Virtual Series, the squad also ran the official Porsche Esports Team GTE entries from its Esports Hub in Gronau, winning its class at the opening round at Monza.

“First of all, we have to thank each and every one of our members that we achieved altogether this goal,” explained team manager Philip Stamm.

“There are people that are in the spotlight, all the drivers – but also the people behind [the scenes] that take care of things so that the guys can really focus.”

Coanda Simsport

Photo by: Coanda Simsport

Further awards, decided by expert judging panels include the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, and the Pioneering and Innovation Award presented by Mahindra Racing incorporating the John Bolster Trophy for Technical Achievement.

The other new award for 2021 is the Gold Medal incorporating the Gregor Grant Award.

Categories decided by fan voting include International Racing Driver of the Year presented by Pirelli, British Competition Driver of the Year, Rookie of the Year, International Racing Car of the Year presented by Blink Experience, Rally Car of the Year, International Rally Driver of the Year, National Driver of the Year and Esports Driver of the Year presented by Motorsport Games.

To find out who our other Award winners are, go to autosport/awards.