Club column: Jack Benyon

Complacency over the Motor Insurance Directive has led motorsport to the brink of disaster – an orchestrated campaign is now desperately needed

This is a potentially apocalyptic issue for motorsport in Europe. That statement is neither scaremongering nor an untruth – Vnuk (not a type of helicopter) is a serious issue. Never could I have thought that a man falling off a ladder in a Slovenian farmyard could shape the future of motorsport.

The EU’S interpretation of a 2014 European Court of Justice case – Damijan Vnuk v Zavarovalnica Trigalev – could lead to a huge change in how insurance arrangements are structured.

While presiding over this case the court decided that, for years, the Motor Insurance Directive had been misinterpreted and that, in fact, any motor vehicle – from lawnmowers to commercial trucks – should have third-party insurance, even on private land. And that includes vehicles in motorsport.

Cast your mind back to the British Grand Prix and the Kimi Raikkonen/lewis Hamilton crash. Post-vnuk, that could result in Mercedes claiming the incident on its insurance. Just picture the consequences in everything from F1 to the Trackday Trophy, claiming for every crash, every weekend. How much do you think insurance premiums would cost if that were the case?

‘I’ve read about this before and wasn’t it fixed?’, you may be thinking. Indeed, last year the Motor Sports Association and industry professionals were encouraged to reply to an EU consultation into the proposed text of the Motor Insurance Directive. But when that MID was released last month, nowhere did it exclude motorsport, or insert the phrase“in traffic”, which had been the preferred outcome from those within the motorsport community. Indeed, some countries in Europe refused to acknowledge it as an issue. France was one nation that failed to take the Vnuk situation seriously, which is worrying since it’s the home of the FIA.

The campaigning last year was clearly insufficient given what’s at stake. People thought Vnuk had been consigned to the memory hole, only for it to prove them gravely mistaken.

The MSA is taking this extremely seriously. New chairman David Richards has already shown he detests unnecessary regulation and, if he decides that something is worthy of his time, be sure that he and his team have thoroughly researched it, investigated the matter fully and painstakingly analysed every possible angle before engaging in a course of action.

That action was to bring together FIA president Jean Todt and UK transport secretary Chris Grayling for a meeting at the British Grand Prix. “We had a very constructive discussion,” Richards told Autosport.“chris Grayling has been extremely supportive of our position on the insurance directive and

Vnuk. The whole basis of the Vnuk argument is to protect the public from uninsured risks.

“The view that he takes, and that of the FIA, is that if an event takes place in the UK under the jurisdiction of the MSA, third parties are properly protected. Therefore it’s not necessary to put another layer of legislation in there that complicates matters.

“We met with Jean Todt at the weekend to reaffirm the UK’S support for the situation, and see how each could help each other.”

Mutual support is what it’s going to take to combat Vnuk. One of the main reasons many people in Britain cite for not taking this issue seriously is that other countries aren’t taking it seriously either. Well, the FIA and France are now waking up to the fact that this is a huge issue. Countries such as Ireland and Germany have supported lobbying from the start, and others are joining the throng. But a sloppy, disconnected effort isn’t going to work.

This needs to be a movement, spearheaded by the FIA and backed by the ASNS – a united front in the battle against Vnuk.

Richards is bullish about the issue, even calling out the FIA for not doing enough. Anyone in UK motorsport should know how big a deal it is for the MSA chairman to adopt that approach.

“There have been campaigns, but I don’t think we’ve been communicating at the most senior level in European government to date,”added Richards.

“To be quite blunt about it, I think until the latest directive came out earlier this year, the FIA were of the view that this

[lack of change in the MID wording] was not going to happen and perhaps there was a bit of complacency about it.

“I think now they have realised this is an issue that needs to be addressed properly and with the full effort of the FIA.

I think Jean [Todt] understands it very well now and we’re in a very different position.”

How the stakeholders act in the coming months will be vital in combating this very real threat to the future of motorsport.

“A MAN FALLING OFF A LADDER COULD SHAPE THE FUTURE OF MOTORSPORT”