In case someone else comes across this question - yes I was able to get this working with quicksync hardware transcoding with ESXi (8) (6700k skylake)
Restart without any monitor connected (to be safe)
Under Host - Manage - Hardware - Intel 530 - Toggle Passthrough (activate)
On the VM - add PCI device (Intel 530)
Start VM
For my VM I rebuilt the loader (DS920+ dsm7.2.1 Update 1) and startup (install/migrate)
once in UI, ssh in as su (or use script) and "modprobe i915"
I was able to see /dev/dri then.