Motorsport Legal goes International for 2024!

Motorsport Legal goes International for 2024!

In the five years since I started Motorsport Legal, I have dealt with all sorts of matters including racing driver agreements, sponsorship contracts, team negotiations and disputes through to representation of drivers and teams at the Motorsport UK National Court. This is essentially a tribunal that deals with disciplinary and investigatory hearings and appeals.

Motorsport in the UK has its own General Regulations which all licence holders are expected to abide by. Each individual series or championship also then has a set of Regulations, usually dealing mainly with the technical aspect of the competition.

If a driver gets penalised after a race for one of the offences such as (the most common) ‘driving in a manner incompatible with general safety and/or departing from the standard of a reasonably competent driver’, they can appeal that decision. Initially appeals are usually dealt with at the circuit by the Stewards. Their decision can also then be appealed to the National Court. That’s were I usually get involved.

Then, one chilly day at Donington Park in October last year changed everything! I was asked about a potential case for an international championship and subsequently took the appeal on. This turned out to be a case where the appeal was to the FIA International Court of Appeal in France and the decision would decide if my clients were International Champions or not. It involved the Spanish motorsport governing body and several other parties. All documents had to be translated and submitted in both English and French and we very soon had an 878 page bundle in readiness for the hearing in January in Paris!

The legal counsel for Motorsport UK looked at me aghast when I said I was dealing with the hearing on my own and without at least one or two assistants/paralegals – but my view was that I had lived and breathed this case for over two months and no one knew it better than I.

I arrived in Paris and went to the FIA building, to be pointed in the direction of the meeting room – a huge room with an oval donut shaped table and lots of tech. Strangely, I wasn’t nervous at all. I knew I was ready and as prepared as I could have been and I was excited to get started.

The hearing was due to have simultaneous translation in English/ French and the translators sat behind a screen at one end of the room. To my left were two lawyers from Motorsport UK. At the end were two lawyers from the FIA. To my right was the Spanish lawyer for the other drivers/team and next to him a lawyer from the Spanish motorsport governing body. At the other end were two administrators/clerks and also the Secretary General of the Court and directly opposite me, four Judges – they were Czech, Belgium, French and Australian. Quite the room full!

The hearing began, and I set out my case, followed by a very thorough questioning by the Judges! All of the other parties then had the opportunity to make representations before I summed up my position on behalf of my clients.

There was never any suggestion that we would get an immediate decision and knew it would probably take several days. However, I kind of figured that I must have done an okay job as one of the Judges came up to me afterwards and asked for a business card!

I decide to stay in Paris for one more day to avoid any rushing to catch a flight and, as I wandered through a park alongside the Champs Elysees, my phone pinged. I opened the email to find that a decision had been made already and … we had won and my clients were now International Champions! I let them know immediately and we were all delighted with the result.

The case was ultimately reported and, for those who are interested, can be found here: https://www.fia.com/ judgements-ica

This year started fantastically and has continued in the same vein, with work involving teams and drivers all over the globe! I love the work that I do and, being a racing driver myself, my clients know I have an insight that a non-racing driver lawyer simply wouldn’t have. So, where do we go from here? Watch this space ………..

By Sarah Franklin

Motorsport Legal is a department of Sarah Franklin Solicitors and Sarah can be contacted on sarah@motorsportlegal.co.uk