JANUARY 22, 2007

Drug bust in GTs

The FIA's policy of drug testing has resulted in a two-year licence suspension for 33-year-old Italian GT racer Luca Moro, who tested positive in a routine doping test carried out at the 2006 Spa 24 Hours after benzoylecgonine (a metabolite of cocaine) was discovered in a urine sample. This was confirmed by a second test from the same original sample. The driver has the right to appeal against his sentence, which will be back-dated to August 31 2006.

Cocaine is a substance prohibited in sport by the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) rules, which are used by the FIA.

F1 drivers regularly undergo drug tests but there have been no major problems to date as there are believed to be very few drugs that do not have detrimental effects which balance any advantage gained.