[UPDATED] Questionable tactics exposed after iRacing's Daytona 24h

williamsesport.jpg
As all the noise following rFactor 2 technical issues during the Virtual Le Mans race was starting to settle down, it's the sporting side of things that fuels yet another sim racing esports controversy after iRacing's edition of the Daytona 24h, with Williams Esports being at the heart of it all.

Everything started after qualifying. Pole position lap in the top class was performed by Alxander Spetz in the #1 LMDh car by driving on the apron instead of staying on the banked part of the oval. The rules clearly stated the apron was off limits, and cones were present at the beginning of the turns to further deter cars to take that line, but unusually, the software didn't trigger an off-track strike for using those bits of tarmac. Organizers explained the detection was manually removed to encourage teams suffering car damage to use the apron to crawl back to the pits without crowding the racing line unnecessarily.

Still, despite the driver having suffered a ban from the service, the team still kept, their pole position, and overall race result, although Williams purposefully switched to the face cam view for the whole lap on their own livestream. iRacing stated that the results are definitive once the race is finished, which hasn't been taken well by other competitors and the community, prompting complaints about the lack of live stewarding.

But the worst was yet to come, as sim racing streamer Pablo Araujo released a video exposing even more disturbing behavior from the team, this time in GT3.


As evidenced by replay footage, Williams Esports used a car that was out of contention after sustaining damage to help its other entry in the class. Car #2 purposefully waited in the pits and in the pit exit road to provide slipstream to its sister #55 car - which while questionable, isn't currently actively prohibited by the regulations - but more crucially, actively tempered with other competitors by defending position despite being several laps down. At some point, car #2 even pushed car #034, which was in the leader's lap, into a crash, effectively ending that team's race.

Tweets from Seb Hawkins, the esports team manager, and Jenson Button, Williams ambassador, tried to justify the LMDh car's tactics in qualifying, but haven't communicated yet on the GT side of things, as people are now calling for action from the organizers side.


UPDATE: Williams Esports has released the following statement on the 27th of January to address the described incidents.

williamsstatement.jpg
About author
GT-Alex
Global motorsports enjoyer, long time simracer, Gran Turismo veteran, I've been driving alongside top drivers since the dawn of online pro leagues on Gran Turismo, and qualified for the only cancelled FIA GTC World Tour. I've left aside competitive driving in 2020 to dedicate myself to IGTL, a simracing organisation hosting high quality events for pro racers and customers, to create with friends the kind of events we wished we could have had. We strive to provide the best events for drivers and the best content for viewers, and want to help the simracing scene grow and shine further in the global esports scene.

Comments

The whole Williams team's behavior is just disgusting, including their justification. From before, during and even after the race, they all (drivers, managers and "ambassadors") just acted like professionnal a$$holes.
I really hope this is an isolated way of running an e-sport team, or they'll do some hard damages to their drivers (who want to be the next Barrichellos?) and their own image.
If Williams new motto is "win is everything, cheating is a way", I won't be surprised they'll be booed in F1 too for that.
Shame big money in simracing attracts more dramas than recognition (Formula-E, MSG-leMans, now this)
 
I have a son that age, it wasn't good what they did, they knew the Q lap was not kosher but they did it. I look at my son and think that if he made a mistake I wouldnt want half the internet piling in on him, hes young.

As a team decision (as I am sure it was) they should be held to account, however that may look like in sim racing but I am hesitant to pile on to someone who is still at school, kids at that age don't need a huge pile on but they do need to learn it was wrong.
When my son was that age he was already competing in high school sports, and was a semi-pro gamer.

At that age he was already taught that his own ethics were on display when he competed, and his actions were going to be a reflection upon him, no matter what others were doing.

He was also taught that there will always be consequences for his actions and he had to accept those consequences.

That kid's own actions led to the reactions. Why should he not be held accountable? As far as half the internet piling on? You wanna play in that pool and act in that manner, you gotta be prepared to be called out by half the internet. If you don't want that, then act in a manner that does not invite it.
 
The whole Williams team's behavior is just disgusting, including their justification. From before, during and even after the race, they all (drivers, managers and "ambassadors") just acted like professionnal a$$holes.
I really hope this is an isolated way of running an e-sport team, or they'll do some hard damages to their drivers (who want to be the next Barrichellos?) and their own image.
If Williams new motto is "win is everything, cheating is a way", I won't be surprised they'll be booed in F1 too for that.
Shame big money in simracing attracts more dramas than recognition (Formula-E, MSG-leMans, now this)
Other teams and drivers have reacted strongly towards that whole situation. From all my experience in that field, you'll always have dodgy people running operations, but they're a minority. Otherwise the professional community is mostly a bunch of very passionate people with fair attitude and a desire to make things better. The consequences of this whole affair for Williams Esport will be interesting to follow.
 
Staff
Premium
Unlike the guy in the video i blame iracing more than these esports teams. Just fork out bit of money for live stewards.
So let's blame the police for criminal behavior of individuals when due to a lack of funding there is less cops in the streets? Sorry, I don't buy that. Blame the criminals instead and make them responsible for their own actions.

In this racing case: the rules have been defined and are really clear to all participants, you just need to adhere to them. Not making up excuses that there wasn't any live stewarding going on (although if you don't have live stewards you should be applying penalties afterwards). The majority of people who I race with behave absolutely fantastic. They often don't even need a rulebook nor a steward, it all comes down to basic common sense really.
 
The stakes are so high in pro sim racing now that it's not surprising that teams will take any advantage and exploit loopholes where possible.

It's deplorable and unsportsmanlike and the people involved should be ashamed but sadly it will continue to happen until the rules are enforced.

I have a fair bit of experience working behind the scenes of sim racing championships. We always had a whole bank of live stewards working in shifts for the long races. We were in constant communication with all the teams who could report things and have it adjudicated by a panel within a few minutes. Now that's not easy - and there are times where it's not possible - in which case incidents were investigated after the race. The fact that iRacing have not chosen to do any of this on a race of such magnitude is flabbergasting to me. The justification from the team for their behavior is even more pathetic.

That qualification lap should have been invalidated and the blue flag situation could have been dealt with easily with a warning/subsequent penalty by a live steward. Job done. This is a poor showing all round IMO.
 
So let's blame the police for criminal behavior of individuals when due to a lack of funding there is less cops in the streets? Sorry, I don't buy that. Blame the criminals instead and make them responsible for their own actions.

In this racing case: the rules have been defined and are really clear to all participants, you just need to adhere to them. Not making up excuses that there wasn't any live stewarding going on (although if you don't have live stewards you should be applying penalties afterwards). The majority of people who I race with behave absolutely fantastic. They often don't even need a rulebook nor a steward, it all comes down to basic common sense really.
I would like to see that "lack of funding". Also I said "i blame iracing more", note the word more. I think you are using a strawman analogy with this police thing.

Even if i go with that analogy: Blame the criminals and continuing having no police doesnt work that well to solve the issue.

Im sure you have great races against great people, and I do too, but that is irrelevant. To use analogy myself :) : I can have a nice tennis match with my friend but that doesnt mean we shouldnt have referees at wimbledon
 
Staff
Premium
I am not saying there shouldn't be anyone overlooking these races. A good race either has a set of live stewards or a post race steward or even better: both. I just don't agree that this specific type of actions are to blamed on (more) anyone else than the drivers making the decisions to drive where they shouldn't.
 
I am not saying there shouldn't be anyone overlooking these races. A good race either has a set of live stewards or a post race steward or even better: both. I just don't agree that this specific type of actions are to blamed on (more) anyone else than the drivers making the decisions to drive where they shouldn't.
Nice fun and games statement, BUT.

Self-filtering "systems" seem somehow nearly always fail. In every sector thinkable.

It seems that if you let the door open for the human species they will always take it.

It shouldnt for iRacing be hard to find 4-5 people from the community to want to do this.
It`s even a 24 hours race which means there is usually plenty of time to figure things out.

Now in your defense i cannot possibly understand what/how Williams Racing is benefitting from this. (they might even risk losing a sponsor by doing this kind of thing, Logitech for example wouldnt like it if McLaren did this.)
And i certainly dont see how the entire venue is benefitting from this. It is for every sponsor/manufacturer or realworld-team easy kumbaya/sugar/fanbase to gain by doing things fun and sportsmanlike.
 
I personally would always want to drive cleanly and outside the grey area -- to race "fair and square", as it were. And I most like and respect real world drivers known for being hard yet clean racers and respectful people. People like Bill Elliott and Mark Martin in NASCAR.

But... key parts of many people's favourite real world racing series are sneaky tactics and bending or breaking rules. Putting your hand over the engine in karting. A long history of running illegal engines or aero in NASCAR in such a way officials couldn't detect it. Risking spinning the car ahead of you with a risky passing manoeuvre in the final laps. Innumerable examples of F1 teams using blindspots or loopholes in rulesets that didn't explicitly prohibit something to get a better car and thus a competitive advantage. Many examples of dodgy driving in various series to squeeze (if not crash out) rivals or hold up rival leaders when they're lapping a slower teammate. I could go on.

Weird min-max-ed esports setups and dodgy strategies like driving on the apron because the computerized system won't flag you for it are the sim racing equivalent. If there's an ounce of competitive advantage to be gained -- even if they risk getting in trouble for trying it -- one or more racers will give it a shot. And that last sentence applies just as much to the top levels of real world motorsport.

Just like it's the real world sanctioning body's job to design a set of rules that's as airtight as possible and arrive at solid means of enforcing them. If Spetz didn't have his lap automatically invalidated for going on the apron, that's iRacing's fault. There's also a second, admittedly amusing, parallel with real life racing -- sanctioning bodies have often had to enforce or ban things they didn't want to see after the fact. Like the FIA banning imaginative rule-bending cars after they race or NASCAR banning wallriding a la Ross Chastain after the fact. Just like it seems iRacing may have to do here.

All this to say... I think these esports incidents have parallels to real world racing. Teams or drivers try something stretching the rules to gain advantage, controversy ensues, and the sanctioning body has to patch things up. Nothing new or outrageous here. Doesn't mean I respect the drivers involved (I don't) but this sort of thing is a regular occurrence in racing history. I neither respect nor wish to celebrate the ultra-competitive, win-at-all-costs mentality involved... but many of the "greatest" racers at the top levels (e.g. Earnhardt Senior, Schumacher, Senna) clearly had it.
 
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Premium
Nice fun and games statement, BUT.

Self-filtering "systems" seem somehow nearly always fail. In every sector thinkable.

It seems that if you let the door open for the human species they will always take it.

It shouldnt for iRacing be hard to find 4-5 people from the community to want to do this.
It`s even a 24 hours race which means there is usually plenty of time to figure things out.

Now in your defense i cannot possibly understand what/how Williams Racing is benefitting from this. (they might even risk losing a sponsor by doing this kind of thing, Logitech for example wouldnt like it if McLaren did this.)
And i certainly dont see how the entire venue is benefitting from this. It is for every sponsor/manufacturer or realworld-team easy kumbaya/sugar/fanbase to gain by doing things fun and sportsmanlike.

Isn't Michael Masi available? What about Flavio Briatore? It takes one to know one....
 
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