OGH Motorsports Fined $10,000 for Unauthorized Driver in Test

Photo: Fred Hardy/SRO

OGH Motorsports has been hit with a $10,000 fine as its No. 5 McLaren Artura GT4 was driven by an non-registered and unlicensed driver in Thursday’s testing sessions at Circuit of The Americas.

Confirmed in a stewards’ decision issued on Friday afternoon, a team representative admitted that an unregistered driver, understood to be a driver of McLaren’s Junior Driver Development program, drove the car.

However, the driver was not permitted to take part in the sessions based on a plethora of prerequisites that would have needed to be completed in order to be eligible.

In addition to not being named on the entry list as a nominated driver, the driver had not completed the mandatory driver checks set out in Article 16.3, including submission of an SRO driver’s license application, a copy of a valid FIA International Grade C (or equivalent) license with current medical certificate, ASN authorization to compete, certificate of completion of the Sean Edwards Foundation test, a signed Pirelli waiver, and a XLNTbrain baseline concussion test.

Additionally, according to the stewards, there was no written consent that had been sought or granted authorizing an additional driver to drive the car.

The No. 5 McLaren, entered in the Am class with FIA Bronze-rated drivers Sean Gibbons and Sam Owen, had posted the quickest overall time in the test, which is understood to have raised alarm bells within race control over the potential of an unauthorized driver, which the team later confirmed.

The severity of the sanction is understood to be entirely safety-related, as teams regularly bring in additional drivers to test, but by going through the correct procedures and channels outlined in the sporting regulations.

Source: Sports Car 365