Knockout format and barrier penalties
In October 2026, the inaugural FIA Esports European Hill Climb Cup brought eight qualifying sim racers to Luxembourg for a live knockout tournament on RaceRoom. Competitors drove the Judd V8-powered BMW 134 up a virtual recreation of the 5.5-kilometre Glasbachrennen hill climb, an unfamiliar layout that was only revealed to drivers on the morning before the Sunday heats. The venue featured tight chicanes and similar-looking turns alongside a strict contact rule that assessed a five-second penalty whenever a car struck the course barriers.
Precision proved decisive in the single-run championship decider, where Moritz Löhner beats Abi Nakhle to claim the inaugural title. Sami Joe Abi Nakhle had shown exceptional speed by setting the virtual course record during his semi-final, but he accumulated two barrier contact sanctions in the final. Those infractions added ten penalty seconds to his run, though the governing body did not publish the exact run times or final gap.
Tournament progression and qualifying scale
Reaching the final required navigating multiple multi-run heats. Löhner advanced through a 2-1 quarter-final against Filip Floristeanu and a 3-0 semi-final over Turkka Häkkinen. Abi Nakhle took a 3-0 quarter-final win over Mihai-Alexandru before defeating Alessandro Ottaviani 2-1 in the semi-finals. Ottaviani subsequently secured third place overall by winning a single-run play-off against Häkkinen.
The eight finalists who gathered in Luxembourg emerged from a broad online qualification stage held between late August and early September 2026. According to the FIA, more than 7,000 drivers across 87 countries logged classified times during the open phase, demonstrating the global reach of the federation's new esports competition.
Official reference: FIA’s event report.
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