Eddie Irvine has agreed to teach driving classes to avoid jail time, following a bust-up with an Italian socialite.
The former Formula One star was sentenced to six months in jail back in 2014, after a fight with Gabriele Moratti, the son of a former Milan mayor, in the VIP section of a nightclub in 2008.
The process was held up for the past three years, thanks to Italy’s notoriously slow legal system, but now 51-year-old Eddie has agreed to teach safe driving theory at a school in Livigno later this year.
According to the Irish Sun on Sunday, Eddie said, “My lawyer explained that in order to avoid jail, the alternative would be to make myself useful, perhaps in the world of volunteering. So I decided to teach the thing I’ve been most successful at.”
Close call: Eddie will avoid jail time by teaching driving classes in Italy | WENN.com
Meanwhile, Gabriele Moratti has already served his six-months, by volunteering at an animal shelter.
According to court transcripts, the fight started while Eddie, who hails from Co.Down, was talking to student Giorgia Re at the nightclub in December 2008.
“I drank a vodka with lemon and when I was talking with [Giorgia] on the sofa, Moratti hit me two or three times from behind. I lost my balance and fell onto the floor.”
However, Gabriele has claimed that Eddie, “threw a glass in my face. I still have a scar above my eye.”
The former race car driver also said that he believed Gabriele “was jealous because I sometimes took his ex girlfriend out”. The judge convicted both men of “causing mutual injury”, and they were both handed the same sentence.
Delayed: Eddie got into a fight with an Italian socialite back in 2008 – and he’s only paying for it now | WENN.com
Eddie will teach classes at Ice Driving School, whose owner Oliviero Bormolini said, “When his lawyer, who is also a racing driver and passionate about the sport, asked if Eddie Irvine could come here, we were delighted. It’s an honour.
“This will be a good thing for our centre, to have Eddie Irvine here as a first level driving instructor. It will be wonderful for the boys learning, and good for him in terms of showing solidarity.
“We don’t know exactly when he will come, the judges need to decide. But it will probably be next season, which begins in December and runs until March/April.”
Eddie is worth over €100 million, thanks to his ten-year career driving for the likes of Ferrari, Jordan and Jaguar, before retiring in 2003.
