The truth behind Abt’s dismissal
The German told why he gave his account to a professional simrack
Hours after Audi officially announced that it was removing Daniel Abt from its program, the German posted a video on his YouTube channel in which he revealed what provoked him to ask Lorenz Horzing to take part in his competition on the virtual ePri Berlin.
“When we were preparing for Race at Home on Twitch, we discussed how it would be great fun if a simracer would come to my place and show real pilots what he can do. This would be a great chance for him to meet them. We wanted to document everything and make a funny story for the fans,” says Abt in his video message, which was released just a few hours after Audi's official stance.
“It is very important for me to share the fact that I never intended to let another pilot ride in his place, record a strong result and be silent with the thought that this achievement will make me look better in the eyes of others.”
“During this race on Saturday, other pilots naturally reacted and found something strange. I knew about that. I never thought to hide it from them. We even wrote in WhatsApp groups, we gave some pranksters. ”
The organizers of Formula E immediately reacted to the situation, disqualified Abt and asked him to provide 10 euros for a charity that the former Audi driver has already provided to an organization that is involved in the mobility of people with disabilities.
“Shortly after the race, I realized that everything is not going the way I wanted, and everything went in a direction that I never considered possible. I understand that we have gone too far with this idea. We made a huge mistake. ”
“I support my mistake! I accept it and I will bear all the consequences for what I have done.”
“This virtual fun had real consequences for me, because today in a conversation with Audi I was informed that from now on our paths diverged. We will not compete together in Formula E, our cooperation is over. I have never felt such pain in my life before.
“In the end, however, I can only say that everyone makes mistakes. I do not think that he could fall more, but I will find strength and get up again!
The situation with Abt caused an immediate reaction of his colleagues in Formula E, who openly expressed their dissatisfaction with what happened.
"It's a game to be taken seriously, but at the end of the day it's just a GAME," said two-time champion Jean-Eric Verne. “And all the pilots who crashed on purpose?” Maybe they should have points deducted from the license, how really? In almost all races, I was absent due to my unsportsmanlike behavior and because the pilots used me instead of the brake.
Vernensky DS Techeetah teammate Antonio Felix da Costa was even more extreme. “Goodbye Twitch, goodbye streaming... I'm out! We will not see each other again! “
Audi has not yet released an official response after Germany’s statement, but the corporation is unlikely to allow more comments on this. However, the question remains whether the team from Ingolstadt is using the situation to terminate the Abt contract ahead of schedule, which since the start of the season turned out to be much lower than expected.
