A Real Race Car Driver Got Fired For Cheating ... In A Video Game
People go to impressive lengths to convince others they can catch a ball better than the other ball-catchers, but only the boldest go the "wig and sunglasses" route. There are several problems with tapping in some guy who's better than you to take your place: It's probably going to be hard to find someone who can outperform a professional athlete who isn't also a professional athlete, sunglasses aren't allowed in most sports, and even with the best disguise, people will probably notice immediately that it's not you out there on the field or court or whatever.
Race car driver Daniel Abt happens to play one of the few (arguable) sports that allow sunglasses, but that didn't matter when he brought in a ringer to race in his place in the Race at Home Challenge. As the name implies, no one was on the track. But people did notice pretty quickly during the virtual charity race that something was up with Abt, chiefly that the face in his little Zoom square was "constantly obscured by a piece of equipment." Sadly, it wasn't a full-size racing helmet that he had to keep making increasingly bizarre excuses to wear.
Behind that equipment was Lorenz Horzing, the professional gamer who schemed with Abt to race in his place. Viewers and competitors also noticed that the Headless Horsepowerman was playing way better than Abt had in previous virtual races ... meaning he came in third. Imagine cheating not only to not win but then to get caught because you lost so much less than usual.
That raises the question: Why did Abt pimp his ride in the first place? There was nothing to win. UNICEF got the money either way. He's gone with the "It's just a prank, bro" method of confession, explaining that he just wanted to give Horzing the opportunity to show his stuff. Still, the race was between a mix of professional drivers and "gamers and influencers," so it seems he had ample legitimate opportunity. Abt insisted that the score meant nothing to him -- it was sheer coincidence that he was sucking so badly before -- and he didn't think of it as a real game.
Unfortunately, his real racing team sure did. He got dropped by the Audi Sport racing team just so he could -- it cannot be stressed enough -- come in third in a fake race for charity.
Top image: Pixabay/mibro
