The long-running McLaren Automotive Ltd vs CRS GT Ltd dispute has received its final verdict today at the High Court of Justice, Commercial Court, in London.

McLaren Automotive has won the case against the former designer and builder of its customer racing GT cars, CRS GT Ltd, after a protracted commercial dispute surrounding the aftersales support ongoing for the 650S GT3 and its predecessor the 12C GT3, together with the rights to build, market and support the current 570S GT4.

The following information on the judgement has been obtained by DSC from McLaren, summarising the 52-page judgement:

The Court:

– Rejected the CRS claim that the GT3 Agreement amounted to an exclusive right to provide aftersales services to GT3 customers after the contract period had ended.

– Upheld McLaren’s position that CRS does not have the rights to provide aftersales services in respect of GT3 cars. CRS’ claim in that respect therefore fails.

– Rejected the CRS claim that it has a binding contract with McLaren in relation to the GT4 project.

– Found that despite the significant work on the GT4 project by CRS, no binding contract ever came into force.

– Concluded that CRS does not have rights, exclusive or otherwise, to provide aftersales services.

Overall, the judge found that “CRS’ claims in relation to both the GT3 Agreement and the GT4 project are dismissed”.

The injunction was automatically lifted on the handing down of the judgement.

McLaren Automotive will continue to pay CRS a profit share on each GT4 car sold, a payment which was never in dispute and will now take full responsibility for after sales support of the 12C GT3 and 650S GT3 cars.

Dan Walmsley, Director of Motorsport for McLaren Automotive said in a statement: “For the growing number of our McLaren customer racers, this judgment is significant as it means we can finally now provide the support for their 570S GT4 racing activities, all backed by our dedicated global motorsport retail network. We would like to thank customers for their understanding and continued patience.

“We continue to develop new in-house motorsport products like the 720S GT3 car which has already garnered international interest from many customer teams and drivers and is showing promising potential in its extensive development programme.”