Hartog Aims to Bring Awareness to Trackside Safety Response

Photo: Loek Hartog Instagram

Loek Hartog said he and Ollie Millroy are hoping to “bring awareness” to trackside safety and medical response following what many have called his heroic measures to save Millroy following a serious accident in Shanghai earlier this month.

The 23-year-old pulled an injured Millroy from the burning wreckage of his Ferrari 296 GT3 in a round of the China GT Championship, with Hartog having been credited for saving Millroy’s life by the Briton himself.

While the incident, and movie-like scenes that were captured on Hartog’s on-board cameras, made international headlines across mainstream media outlets, the tall Dutchman has returned to the wheel of his primary racing program this weekend, competing with Kellymoss in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS competition at Barber Motorsports Park.

It marks the former Porsche Motorsport North America Selected Driver’s first race on U.S. soil since the China GT race, and admitted that he was shocked by the outpouring of support from the SRO America paddock.

“Mostly I’m surprised with how many people have seen it,” Hartog told Sportscar365. “I’m shocked with not only the paddocks I race in but also outside, [that] have been touched by this.

“Everybody interacts with it in some way, so it’s a strange thing [for me]. I’ve never had something like this before.

“I’m happy to see how many people that actually think it’s important to address these kind of things. It’s also refreshing to see that everybody loves racing, but [safety] is more important in some way.”

Hartog, who returned to Shanghai last week for a test session, met Millory and his wife, Fern, while Millory was still in the hospital before being released, and began devising a plan together that could help elevate awareness around trackside safety for all forms of motorsport.

“Ollie and I are racing drivers, first and foremost,” he said. “We rather be valued for who we are in what we do.

“We’re also aware that our reaction to things maybe shines a light as to who we are as persons beyond the racing helmet. But truthfully, the people we care about that already know that.

“It’s not really about all of the international news. It’s more about bringing awareness that it doesn’t have to happen again.

“We’ve paused it a bit because we realized when Ollie got back home, he was still in a lot of pain as he’s [reducing] medication. In the next couple of weeks, when he feels better, that’s when we’ll start thinking about having a good plan.

“I think what’s important now is to have a good structure and a good plan.

“It’s kind of helping that it’s starting to be the off-season. I still have three important last race weekends of this year and of course, it’s the [time] when deals are going to come together [for 2027]. This is happening as well.

“We really want to take this forward but also we need to make sure we’re still in the racing paddock. It’s a bit of a balance but there’s definitely some things we have on the horizon and some great plans.

“There’s been really great people that have reached out to us, via emails, DMs, of initiatives, with a lot of startups already addressing this. That was a surprise.

“We’ve yet to hear from the FIA but of course we want to get into conversation with them as well because we also don’t want to step into a role where we don’t belong.

“But we do feel that we have the responsibility and the momentum to be the face of suppressing this issue of somebody not being able to get themselves out of a car that’s on fire.”

Hartog Had ‘Processing Capacity’ to Act on “Instinct”

When asked what prompted him to pull his Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo over to the side of the track, climb out of the car and run into Millroy’s burning wreckage, Hartog said it was about having the processing what unfolded in front of him in mere seconds.

“Over the years, I wish I was doing more pro racing but I’m doing more and more Bronze racing,” he said. “You also start to understand there’s bigger things than racing.

“I think you calculate a bit more ahead or you learn to drive with a bit more clarity. A computer has a processor… I think you start to learn that you need to drive like that and have a bit of capacity left.

“I think that’s what happened in that scenario. With the capacity that I had left, I was able to really convert it quickly into making… It was not even a decision. It was an instinct.

“There’s not really an incident that reminds me of helping or doing something. I don’t know what came over me, but I just had to do it.”

Dutchman Vows to Return to China GT, Urges Fellow Drivers to Have Insurance

While several other teams and drivers have announced plans to withdraw from China GT because of the incident and response time of safety and fire crews, Hartog said there’s no hesitation on his part to return to the series.

“In the end, it’s my job as well,” he said. “They already made some changes, so everybody should now have personal insurance as well.

“Luckily I already had this in place, to have a PA (Personal Accidents), which I recommend to everybody.

“Renger [van der Zande, founder of Pogona Insurance] sorted me out with this three years ago.

“It was something I didn’t believe in back then but it shows how important it is if you’re racing around the globe.

“For me, yes I’ll be back in the championship. Next year looks to be difficult with my calendar but it’s nothing to do with my relationships [with teams and drivers].

“I’ve yet to have a good discussion with the series but I’m sure they’re also in a strong current at the moment where they have a lot of other things to focus on.

“They’re hosting an [eight-hour race in Shanghai] this weekend. I think that have multiple things on their minds as well.

“I think it’s good to keep the conversation going.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John