China GT Championship Organisers Accused of Gross Negligence After Driver Crash

The organisers of the China GT Championship in which British driver Ollie Millroy almost died have been accused of “gross negligence” amid claims some track staff were gig workers being paid just 60 yuan (US$8.50) a day.

Millroy’s car burst into flames after a three-vehicle collision at the Shanghai International Circuit, and he was pulled from the burning wreckage by 23-year-old Dutch driver Loek Hartog with fire marshals and stewards nowhere to be seen.

According to his Instagram account, the 36-year-old Englishman sustained six broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a broken hand and a punctured lung in the accident, which took place on the seventh lap of Saturday’s race.

He underwent a four-hour operation in a Shanghai hospital to insert plates and screws into the broken bones. Doctors also inserted a drain line into his abdomen to release gas and fluid leaking from his lung.

“I am still alive tonight, entirely thanks to one man. Loek Hartog stopped instantly with no flag marshals or fire crews in sight and risked his own life to get me out of the car,” Millroy wrote on his Instagram account. “I don’t remember anything between 30 seconds before the crash and 1 hour after it, but I will remember his incredible act of bravery for the rest of my life.”

Yang Baijie, of 610 Racing, was one of the drivers involved in the crash and claimed on social media that emergency workers had “dropped their fire extinguishers out of fear and fled”, while an ambulance took 15 minutes to arrive at the scene.