The T3 Motorsport team, a Lamborghini customer, has been absent from the starting grid of the DTM since the second round of the season in May, when it was due to run the entire campaign with Aston Martin factory driver Nicki Thiim, alongside Esmee Hawkey.
Dissatisfaction has grown within the team over the lack of payments following the prolonged absence from the races, and its members have had to resort to criminal complaints for suspected fraud.
Employees say the company has hired people even though they know they don’t have the financial means to compensate them for their work. The company is also said to be insolvent but has not yet filed for bankruptcy.
A total of around 15 team members, including engineers and mechanics, some of whom have worked as freelancers, are estimated to have a combined credit of over € 100,000.
This includes the amount due for the first two DTM races in Portimao and the Lausitzring and for the two official end-of-year tests. In reality, some of the team members have not yet been paid even for the 24 Hours of Daytona, which took place in January.
After the criminal complaint was filed, the prosecutor’s office was asked to investigate the matter. If it is believed that a crime has been committed, the state will take legal action against the perpetrators.
Motorsport-Total.com has contacted T3 Motorsport to respond to the allegations of its members, but has not yet received a response from the team.
The struggle for payments
Esmee Hawkey, T3 Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
A longtime member of the T3 Motorsport team, who agreed to an interview on condition of anonymity, revealed that the staff even advanced money to the team to help cover expenses.
“Our concern is not that this company goes bankrupt, but that we don’t get paid for our work,” the employee told Motorsport-Total.com. “And that at least payments are made for the amount still outstanding.”
“We are still receiving emails related to the first weekend of the season in Portimao, because the rental cars have not been paid for, or for the hotel bill. Since the Lausitzring weekend, we have been receiving something every week.”
“We have nothing to blame. We also advanced some money to the team and we did our job anyway, but now we are left with our hands.”
It has long been known that the team was under financial stress. During the preparations for the Lausitzring weekend, in mid-May, the police showed up at the team headquarters and removed the registration seals from the plates of the team vehicles in front of the assembled staff, in order to cancel them.
“We should have known that the situation was uncertain and that the insurance was probably not paid,” said the team member. “But we went on anyway”.
The Lausitzring was the last outing of T3 Motorsport in the DTM, with the team missing the Imola race, just two weeks later, and all subsequent events.
Esmee Hawkey, T3 Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3
Photo by: Andreas Beil
During T3’s absence from the races, the team members attempted several times to reclaim the money due out of court, but all their attempts were thwarted by the management.
The next step was to submit a court order to receive the money. However, the employer refused, resulting in an increase in legal fees.
Team leader Jens Feucht, who was in intensive care over the weekend in Imola due to a viral infection, informed the team members that he would withdraw the refusal and send a debt admission, thus acknowledging their requests. . This offered a short ray of hope, but the money never materialized.
The team members then filed a second subpoena in court, which was again rejected by the team. This is possible without giving any reasons and can be used to avoid insolvency proceedings.
After two unsuccessful court orders, the only option left was to put pressure on the team by filing a criminal complaint.
Although the complaint has been filed, team members are still concerned about the money they owe and T3 Motorsport has already sold Hawkey’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo and other equipment.
Some of this equipment is also used by Maximilian Paul in the ADAC GT Masters, whose father Tobias Paul is one of the three shareholders of T3 Motorsport. Since August, the team no longer competes under the name T3, but with that of Paul Motorsport. In the event of T3 insolvency, the team is unlikely to be affected.
“The activities are further reduced to a minimum,” said the same team member. “And everything is rejected – and at some point the insolvency will be forcibly filed, only then there will be nothing left.”
Then he pointed out that the people concerned do not want to be harmed, but they want to be treated fairly.
“We are ready to talk, because we had a lot of fun,” he said. “We have worked together intensely for many years and had a lot of fun. It hurts even more that things go this way. This is why we are very disappointed on a human level as well.”
#DTM #legal #action #nonpayments #team #members