Former Formula 1 race director Michael Masi moves to the GT World Challenge

SRO Motorsports Australia is delighted to announce that the experienced motorsport official Michael Masi has been appointed as its new Head of Sporting Operations.

Masi will take up his role at SRO Motorsports Australia with immediate effect to oversee an official handover before taking on the position full-time from the 2027 season. During the transition period, Masi will be present at the final two races of this year’s Shannons SpeedSeries, starting with this coming weekend’s race at Sydney Motorsport Park.

As part of his role, Masi will be responsible for the rules and regulations in both the GT World Challenge Australia and GT4 Australia. This includes ensuring that processes and procedures comply with SRO Global’s standards, overseeing the race stewards, the race director and other race officials, and implementing international best practices, as applied in other SRO series.

Masi joins SRO Motorsports Australia with extensive experience at the highest level of motorsport, both here in Australia and abroad; of particular note is his role as Race Director in Formula 1, a position he held for three seasons between 2019 and 2021. He lost his position as Formula 1 race director following his controversial interpretation of the rain rules at the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi, which secured Max Verstappen his first world championship title and prevented Lewis Hamilton from claiming his eighth world title.

Prior to this, Masi had worked his way up through Australian motorsport: he began as a teenager volunteering, before taking on senior roles at Motorsport Australia (then known as the Confederation of Australian Motorsport), including that of CEO of Rally Australia and deputy race director at Supercars.

His most recent roles in the sport included serving as the independent chair of the Supercars Commission from 2022 to 2025. He will continue to hold his positions as vice-chair of Karting Australia and as a board member of the South Australian Motor Sport Board.

Masi will succeed the outgoing Abi Hay, who is returning to Europe to focus on her current roles as Series Manager of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, SRO Manager for Manufacturer Relations and Head of the SRO GT Academy.

Hay had held the position of Head of Business Development and Sport at SRO Motorsports Australia since early 2024, where she played a key role in laying the foundations for the organisation to align with the global standards of the SRO Motorsports Group.

Masi will take up his role as Head of Sport at SRO Motorsports Australia this coming weekend at the GT Festival at Sydney Motorsport Park from 18 to 20 September.

“This is an incredibly exciting opportunity to be part of the next chapter of SRO Motorsports Australia, and I look forward to continuing the great work already done by the team and, in particular, by Abi,” said Michael Masi. “GT racing in Australia is enjoying a steady upswing, and I am confident that there are numerous opportunities to build on the solid foundations that have already been laid. I look forward to working with everyone involved and, hopefully, implementing some positive initiatives that will further develop the sport and benefit the competitors, the teams and all our stakeholders.”

This makes Masi the second former Formula 1 race director to work for SRO. Niels Wittich, who succeeded him in Formula 1 and was sacked during the 2024 season, has been race director of the GT World Challenge Europe – the largest and most important GT racing series – since the 2024 season finale in Jeddah. He also oversees selected races in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, the unofficial GT3 World Championship.