27 May 2020

Formula E racer Daniel Abt sacked by Audi after cheating in Esports race

Audi have sacked Formula E driver Daniel Abt after he was found cheating during the fifth round of the sport’s ’Race at Home Challenge’ last weekend. 

The German was disqualified from the event after he allowed professional Esports sim racer Lorenz Hoerzing to compete in his place.

The 27 year-old has since been axed by the Audi team with immediate effect and has been fined €10,000 which will be donated to charity.

Abt, who has been part of the Audi set up in the electric-powered-vehicle series since 2014, said it was all meant to be a joke.

The series features all of the regular Formula-E drivers competing from the comfort of their homes during the coronavirus pandemic, and are made visible from their stimulators online, but Abt’s face was hidden. 

He said in a YouTube video: "Today I was informed in a conversation with Audi that our ways will split from now on, we won't be racing together in Formula E any more and the cooperation has ended.

"Looking back, we did not think enough about the seriousness and the consequences of the situation. We made a huge mistake there.

"It was never my intention to let another driver drive for me to get a result and keep quiet about it later on just to make me look better.

“It was extremely important to me to take this opportunity to tell you what happened and to simultaneously apologise to my family, to my friends, to Audi, to my partners, to Formula E, to UNICEF, and of course to all the fans who supported me over the years."

The best videos delivered daily

Watch the stories that matter, right from your inbox