Daniel Abt Caught Cheating in Race At Home Challenge

Guillermo Ortega

Professional racing driver Daniel Abt has been caught cheating during the Race at Home Challenge eSports Series, Abt was supposed to take the wheel of a simulation race car in rFactor 2, in a race where other professional drivers participated.

The Race at Home challenge eSports Series was an event organized by the Formula E’s organizers and it’s supported by the FIA. Taking Abt’s wheel was a professional player called Lorenz Hoerzing. As reported by Eurogamer, Daniel couldn’t hide the fact that he wasn’t actually playing the game, as his camera clearly showed that his body language was not the one of someone competing in a race.

Abt who has been in the Formula E scene since 2014, surprisingly became a more competent driver in the game, his camera also suggested something strange as his gaming equipment was hidden from plain sight. As the cheating was evident, the organizers investigated the IP address Abt, this led to Lorenz Hoerzing. Abt was disqualified from the Race a Home Challenge events, he was also fined with 10,000 EUR. The professional driver is also facing sanctions from the Audi Sports racing team.

“Daniel Abt did not drive his car in qualifying and the race at the fifth event of the Race at Home Challenge on May 23 himself, but let a professional Sim-Racer do so,” reads the official statement from Audi (as reported by The Race). “He directly apologized for this on the following day and accepted the disqualification.

“Integrity, transparency and consistent compliance with applicable rules are top priorities for Audi – this applies to all activities the brand is involved in without exception. For this reason, Audi Sport has decided to suspend Daniel Abt with immediate effect.”