Audi sack Formula-E star for cheating in videogame race

Audi Sport has sacked German driver Daniel Abt for cheating in a charity video game race in which he passed the controls to a professional esports gamer while pretending to be at the wheel.

Abt released a video late on Tuesday apologising, once again, but added it was not his intention to cheat just to show that video racing was not like the real thing.

This virtual sin of mine has consequences in the real world,” he said. “I had a conversation with Audi and we will go our separate ways.”

In Saturday’s race, Abt, second bottom of the series, passed control of his car to Pro esports gamer Lorenz Hoerzing, 18, who was in Austria, in the ‘sim’ for the race around Berlin-Tempelhof.

At one point, Abt’s car led by a wide margin, arousing the suspicions of the organisers and rivals. He was disqualified and ordered to make a “compulsory donation” of €10,000 (Dh40,000) to charity.

Abt, 27, won a real world race on the same circuit in 2018 and has been successfully racing Formula-E since its creation in 2014.

“It’s a game, a simulation which does not have anything in common with real racing. It’s definitely very far away from what makes a real Formula E car,” Abt said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Audi released a statement saying they had suspended Abt and making clear they did not see the funny side.

Abt insisted he had not tried to cover up the ruse. “It has never been my intention to lie to you,” he said. “After the race it suddenly went in a direction which I had not ever been able to imagine in a dream. I was portrayed as a cheater. I made a huge mistake. I hope you can forgive me.”