After a fiery accident at last weekend’s China GT round that saw Loek Hartog pull Ollie Millroy from his burning Ferrari in Shanghai, event organisers have been left facing a barrage of uncomfortable questions.
Onboard footage from Hartog’s Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) reveals track marshals handling fire extinguishers so ineptly that it raises serious doubts about whether they had received any proper training.
One marshal was seen handing a fire extinguisher to Hartog before immediately running away. Another marshal who arrived shortly after struggled immensely just to unlatch the safety pin. Furthermore, no specialised fire rescue truck was anywhere to be seen.
Adding to the crisis, it took 15 minutes for an ambulance to arrive at the scene. According to fellow driver Yang Baijie, who was also involved in the incident, the ambulance driver was asleep during the race.
In a scathing Instagram post, Yang announced his immediate withdrawal from China GT while condemning the stewards’ conduct:
“Following the race, the stewards summoned us to the hearing room without knowing whether the driver was safe. There was no greeting, no inquiry about the other two drivers involved, no word of comfort,” he stated.
“They made no mention of their own rescue response time. I was stunned that their first reaction was to smile – to attempt to shift responsibility onto us. The chief steward, with appalling arrogance, dismissed this as an amateurish mistake.
“My team-mate is a factory driver. A Daytona champion. Yet their first instinct was to ask whether we would help direct public opinion against ourselves to deflect from their own failures.”
Flawed communication on and off track
Taiwanese entry FIST Auto / AAI Motorsports, for whom Millroy drives, expressed equal fury toward race officials and announced its complete withdrawal from the championship.
“The race organisation committed gross negligence regarding on-site emergency care and safety protocols during rescue operations. Clear gaps in the emergency response nearly resulted in a tragedy,” the team stated.
“It is particularly appalling that race control failed to verify the situation on the ground during the live broadcast, hastily reporting that the driver had exited the vehicle unassisted.
“Following the accident, organisers failed to immediately mobilise adequate medical resources. To this day, the organisers have offered no official apology to the team or those affected for these severe failures.
“The organiser’s actions – disregarding risks to human life, allowing false information on the broadcast, and downplaying the severity of the crash – are profoundly irresponsible. It tramples on industry standards and has severely shattered the trust of the team, the driver’s family, and the broader motorsport community. We condemn this in the strongest possible terms.
“In firm protest, our team is withdrawing from all future China GT events with immediate effect. This stance remains until the race committee completes a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation into the rescue failures and all related issues, and presents our team with a formal response.”
Prominent voice condemns China GT from the US
High-profile outcry also came from actor, martial artist and avid racer Daniel Wu, who voiced his shock on social media regarding the conditions at the race at Shanghai International Circuit.
“The accident was shown on the broadcast and it immediately cut away. And then it took another 30 seconds to a minute before race control issued a red flag, very slow to issue a red flag. And then from that point on, we were left completely in the dark because nobody knew what was happening,” the US-based actor with Chinese ancestry said.
“The marshals were bungling around, clearly did not know what they were doing or did not know what to do in a situation like this. Not sure why the firetruck took so long to get there, but clearly mistakes were made all along the way.
“And for GT China to not acknowledge what happened or even make a statement even 36 hours later is disgraceful, really disgraceful. For any person, organisation, business to get better, the first thing you do is acknowledge what went wrong. Acknowledge a mistake, admit it, then analyse what happened and then figure out how not to let that happen again.
“It’s very simple, very basic. And in this case, it seems like everything was brushed under the carpet. Hopefully no one will talk about this again and it’ll just go away. But there’s a man in a hospital right now because of this, with bad burns, broken bones, everything. And they have not acknowledged any responsibility for what happened. In fact, trying to blame it on the other drivers that caused the accident.
“And clearly in this case, that whole entire system failed. And for Chinese Motorsport to be better, these organisers need to be better. And to be better, you need to acknowledge your mistakes. Please do better. Learn from this mistake. Learn from what happened yesterday. Someone could have died because of negligence. And you have to acknowledge that. It’s really simple.”
Series issues initial statement
According to a report by the South China Morning Post, track marshals were reportedly paid a daily stipend of just 60 Yuan – approximately $8.50, reportedly falling well below the daily rates for ticket clerks (180 Yuan) and security personnel (200 Yuan).
“What can you expect from a marshal whose daily pay is worth less than the fire extinguisher he carries?” noted the report, citing leaked internal documents. The publication also cited an initial statement issued by the event organisers.
“According to our preliminary review, the event’s overall staffing and resources met the standards required for a national-level motorsport event, although there remains room for improvement in detailed operational management,” organisers wrote.
“We will conduct a further review and investigation into the accident and develop more comprehensive plans to address shortcomings in race organisation, support arrangements, emergency response, rescue operations and medical services.”
