Economic Observer reporter Zhang Xiaohui

On September 5th, a thrilling scene was staged at the Shanghai station of the China GT China Supercar Championship: the GT3 group race reached the 7th lap, and a series of three car collisions occurred on the track. The No. 91 Ferrari was hit and its fuel tank was damaged, causing the car to quickly catch fire. British driver Oliver Millroy was trapped in the cockpit, seriously injured, and unable to escape the danger on his own.

It was not the professional rescue personnel on the track who ultimately saved Milori, but the Dutch driver Loek Hartog who competed on the same track. He immediately gave up the race, parked for rescue, and spent about 49 seconds suppressing the fire, transferring the injured to a safe area. The on-site video and the driver's statement afterwards showed that at the moment of the incident, the flag bearer and firefighters could not be seen on the track arriving in time. This special rescue quickly sparked public opinion in the racing industry, with multiple teams announcing their withdrawal from the race one after another, targeting the operation and support system of the race.

After the accident escalated, there has been no formal information disclosure at the capital market level.

On the morning of September 8, 2026, the reporter sent a letter to the Office of the Secretary of the Board of Directors of Electric Power Sheng Sports, inquiring whether the listed company would issue a public announcement regarding the Shanghai Station accident. The staff responded that the accident is currently under investigation and there is no conclusion yet. It is not convenient to disclose information to the public at this time. According to the practice of listed companies, many companies will take the opportunity to explain to the public when major emergencies occur in their holding subsidiaries; As of the time of writing, Lisheng Sports has not released any relevant announcement. Its statement is that it needs to wait for the complete accident investigation to be completed before making a decision on external notification.

Who is operating China GT

The current operating entity of China GT is Shanghai Qingsu Racing Planning Co., Ltd. According to the business information, this company was established on December 8, 2008, with FANG YUAN as its legal representative and a registered capital of 10 million yuan. In 2025, a total of 70 employees paid social security contributions.

The equity structure clearly shows that Shanghai Qingshu is a wholly-owned subsidiary of A-share listed company Lisheng Yundong (Shanghai) Sports Technology Co., Ltd. (002858.SZ, Lisheng Sports): Lisheng Sports directly holds 51% of the shares, and Fangyuan holds the remaining 49% of the shares. The chairman of the company is concurrently held by Xia Qing, the actual controller and chairman of Lisheng Sports, and Fang Yuan is appointed as the general manager. Lisheng Sports disclosed in its 2026 semi annual report that Xia Qing and her spouse Yu Zhaoxu jointly hold and control 19.51% of Lisheng Sports' equity.

The crisis begins on the track.

After the race, driver Ori Milori reported on social media that he suffered from 5 broken ribs, clavicle and finger fractures, accompanied by lung contusions, and will need to undergo multiple surgeries. He recalled that between 30 seconds before the collision and an hour after the accident, his memory was blank. Hattog risked his life to save people, and he will remember it for a lifetime. I am still alive tonight, and I am completely grateful to someone. Locke Hartog immediately stopped the car. At that time, there was no track flag bearer or firefighter in sight, and he risked his life to rescue me from the race car

The storm quickly spread from the track to the industry level. The involved team FIST TEAM AAI issued a statement on the night of the accident, directly pointing out that the rescue and support provided by the racing team were negligent and the live broadcast information was inaccurate. The live broadcast of the race once reported that the driver left the car on their own, which is seriously inconsistent with the facts on site. The team has officially announced its withdrawal from all China GT series races until the organizing committee completes an independent public investigation, formally apologizes, and presents a systematic rectification plan.

FIST TEAM AAI is not an ordinary team, but has a history of participating in the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race and is one of the top GT teams in the Asia Pacific region. Following this, another team involved in the accident, TBC Racing, announced their permanent withdrawal from China GT, and team owner Yang Baijie himself will no longer participate in the race. TBC Racing has made two major allegations: on-site staff panicked and even dropped fire extinguishers to leave; The ambulance arrived severely delayed; The post race arbitration department did not pay attention to the safety of the drivers first and summoned the drivers involved in the accident in a timely manner, which has a tendency to shift the responsibility for the accident.

At 14:06 on September 6th, the China GT Racing Organizing Committee issued a brief apology announcement to the public. The announcement only states that the accident was an unexpected event that no one wants to see, and deeply apologizes for the impact caused by the incident. We promise to conduct a review and investigation. This statement is brief and does not directly address core doubts such as delayed rescue efforts and errors in live broadcasting, making it difficult to calm industry sentiment.

Hong Kong actor Daniel Wu happened to participate in the GTS category of this station as a driver. At the time of the incident, he had already completed the race and returned to the pit lane. On September 7th, Daniel Wu released a video publicly commenting on the accident. He bluntly stated that the display of the red flag during the event was slow and the on-site rescue and disposal were chaotic. He criticized the 36 hour delay in issuing a statement after the event, calling this practice "shameful"; Praising Dutch driver Locke Hartog for his adventurous rescue, calling him a hero in reality; At the same time, it expresses understanding of the decision of some teams to withdraw from the competition.

As of press time, another celebrity driver who is more widely concerned, Wang Yibo, has not publicly expressed his views on the Ferrari car fire accident. On September 7th, Wang Yibo posted on Weibo: "Sports cannot always be lucky, yesterday we had a very happy comparison. This content responds to the incident of my own car being hit and retired from the second round on September 6th, and has nothing to do with the Ferrari car fire accident on September 5th.

The new version of China GT is less than two years old

In the vortex of public opinion, many people overlook a fact: the operating history of the new version of China GT is actually very short.

The first generation of China GT was born in 2016. The race was approved by the China Automobile and Motorcycle Federation and registered with the International Automobile Federation. The early promotion and operation company was Beijing Zhongshi Cultural Development Co., Ltd. The competition is divided into GT3, GTC, GT4 and other categories. GT3 is the highest specification category, and the race car is deeply modified based on mass-produced sports cars, which is also the category where the accident occurred; GT4 is positioned as an entry-level group and officially renamed GTS for the 2025 season; GTC belongs to the transitional group between the two.

In 2019, Shanghai Qingsu was only the technical service provider for the first generation of China GT and did not take over the overall operation.

In 2020, the first generation China GT encountered operational difficulties and the competition gradually came to a halt. Shanghai Qingsu has started anew and will operate GTSSC short distance races from 2021 to 2023, initially limited to amateur gentleman drivers; The 2024 GTSSC competition will be renamed as GTSC and the entry threshold will be lifted; Until the 2025 season, GTSC will be officially upgraded and renamed as China GT, obtaining national level racing qualifications and fully operated by Shanghai Qingsu. That is to say, the new version of China GT has not completed two seasons so far.

Racing cars come with star traffic effects. As early as the operation stage of Beijing CTV, Han Han had already competed in the China GT GT3 category. After the restart of the new version of the race, star drivers further boosted public attention: Wang Yibo entered the 2025 season and played for UNO Racing Team in the 2026 season, driving the 85th Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO; Daniel Wu made his debut in the 2026 season, playing for the Phantom Universe team, and belongs to the same team as the rescue driver Hartog. The so-called gentleman drivers refer to enthusiasts who do not make racing their profession and participate at their own expense, and they are also the foundation of the huge traffic in GT races.

Shanghai Qingsu itself was co founded by veteran media figure Fang Yuan and Italian racing industry expert Deng Dawei in 2008. According to public information, Fang Yuan was born in 1970 and worked as a CCTV 5 correspondent in his early years, reporting on international events such as F1 and MotoGP for a long time; Deng Dawei is mainly responsible for the on-site technical implementation of the competition.

Lisheng Sports completed its layout in 2019: In March of that year, Lisheng Racing spent 30.6 million yuan to acquire 51% equity of Shanghai Qingshu, corresponding to an overall valuation of 60 million yuan. The acquisition was accompanied by a performance bet, requiring net profits to meet the standards for the three years 2019-2021. After the acquisition landed, Shanghai Qingsu was included in the list of listed companies, and Lisheng Racing was later renamed Lisheng Sports.

Poor Performance

According to financial report data, Shanghai Qingsu's revenue has continued to decline in recent years: the revenue in 2022 was 47.0994 million yuan, the revenue in 2023 was 40.6616 million yuan, the revenue in 2024 was 34.2696 million yuan, and the revenue in the first half of 2025 was 25.4105 million yuan. Starting from the second half of 2025, Lisheng Sports will no longer separately disclose the operating data of Qingsu in its financial reports.

At the end of 2024, the listed company made a provision for impairment of goodwill of approximately 16.32 million yuan for Shanghai Qingsu, citing lower than expected operations. Lisheng Sports' overall annual revenue ranges from 441 million to 497 million yuan, and it is estimated that China GT business accounts for approximately 4% to 7% of the listed company's revenue.

Xia Qing holds multiple industry identities: Vice Chairman of the China Automobile and Motorcycle Sports Federation, President of the Shanghai Automobile and Motorcycle Association, and Vice President of the Shanghai Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce.

Racing is a high cost sport. Racing teams and drivers need to bear high competition costs, and disputes over maintenance and personal injury caused by accidents on the track are not uncommon. A judgment from Nanjing Intermediate People's Court in 2024 recorded that a driver surnamed Song was injured in a collision during a GT short distance race, and the amount of property and personal damage disputes reached 350000 yuan.

The Shanghai station fire accident has spread to the capital market. As of the close of September 9th, Lisheng Sports' stock price closed at 12.09 yuan/share, down 3.28%, with a total market value of 2.3 billion yuan.

(Author Zhang Xiaohui)