A High-Stakes Final Format
In hill climb competition, margins are defined by precision rather than wheel-to-wheel racecraft. That dynamic took centre stage on 11 October 2026 at the E-Motion sim-racing centre in Luxembourg, where eight finalists gathered to settle the inaugural FIA Esports European Hill Climb Cup on a virtual rendition of Germany's 5.5-kilometre Glasbachrennen course.
While the quarter-final and semi-final brackets utilized a best-of-three runs structure, the decider shifted to a solitary, sudden-death run. Driving the BMW 134 Judd V8 on RaceRoom, Sami Joe Abi Nakhle entered the final stage with proven peak speed after establishing the virtual course record during his semi-final matchup against Alessandro Ottaviani. Moritz Löhner, meanwhile, earned his berth through clean head-to-head victories over Filip Floristeanu and Turkka Häkkinen.
The Crucial Moment at the Barriers
The turning point of the championship arrived with the course's strict sanction regime. Event regulations imposed a five-second time penalty for barrier contact along the tight climb and chicane. During the single-run shootout, Abi Nakhle was assessed two separate five-second penalties, adding ten seconds to his overall time.
That costly ten-second penalty tally defined the showdown. With clean execution on the unyielding road, Löhner beats Abi Nakhle to secure the 1-0 decider and lift the maiden trophy, ending a multi-year victory drought. While official FIA reports did not detail the exact elapsed run times or final gap, the contact penalties proved to be the decisive factor over raw single-lap pace.
Official reference: FIA’s event report.
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