OCTOBER 5, 2001

The FIA elections

MAX MOSLEY has been elected for a third term as President of the FIA, for the third consecutive time.

Mosley, 61, was firstly elected President of the FISA (Federation Internationale du Sport Automobile), the FIA's then sport division, in 1991 and re-elected in 1992. In 1993, after the re-organization of the FIA under which the FISA disappeared, Mosley was elected President of the FIA for the first time. He was then re-elected in 1997.

The FIA General Assembly, the supreme body of the federation, which is made up of the presidents of the 157 in 118 countries, also voted Robert Darbelnet as Deputy President of the FIA (Touring and Automobile) for a four year term. He was also elected President of the AIT (Alliance Internationale de Tourisme), the FIA's sister organization.

Marco Piccinini has been re-elected Deputy President of the FIA (Sport) for a second four-year term. Formerly the Ferrari Formula 1 team manager, Piccinini was briefly head of the Italian national sporting authority before pursuing his career with the FIA and in private banking.

The new World Motor Sport Council is not greatly changed with the major difference being that Great Britain and Finland are no longer represented. John Quenby, who used to sit for the MSA, has retired and has not been replaced while Kari Sohlberg was not re-elected.

Several leading lights of FIA politics have retired notably Vice-President Alexandre Dardoufas, the 79-year-old Greek has been replaced on the World Council by Vassilis Despotopoulos, and Belgium's Chares de Fierlandt (68), who is replaced by the younger John Goossens. Two men have become Vice-Presidents Carlos Gracia of Spain (a man who was thought to have been planning a rival election bid against Mosley a few months ago) and Argentina's Rafael Sierra. The World Council features two new faces: Turkey's Mumtaz Tahincioglu and Portugal's Antonio Vasconcelos Tavares while Henry Krausz, who previously represented the Dominican Republic now represents Venezuela.

The full list of WMSC members is as follows: Mosley, Piccinini, Vice-Presidents Michel Boeri (Monaco), Nazir Hoosein (India), John Large (Australia), Burdette Martin (USA), Jacques Regis (France), Gracia and Sierra. The members are Jacek Bartos (Poland), Morrie Chandler (New Zealand), Despotopoulos (Greece), Goossens (Belgium), Krausz (Venezuela), Derek Ledger (Jordan), Radovan Novak (Czech Republic), Lars Osterlind (Sweden), Tahincioglu (Turkey), Katsutoshi Tamura (Japan), Hermann Tomczyk (Germany) and Portugal's Vasconcelos Tavares.

There are three members by right: Gabriele Cadringher (President of the FIA Manufacturers' Commission), Yvon Leon (who replaces Ernest Buser as president of the CIK) and Bernie Ecclestone. He was previously listed a representative of FOM, the commercial rights holder in F1 but is now listed as the "representative of the Formula One teams".

Ecclestone's role in FIA affairs has been reduced by the fact that he is no longer a member of the FIA Senate. His place on that body has been taken by John Large. Otherwise the eight-man body remains unchanged.

There have been a number of changes in personnel on the International Court of Appeal but significantly it has been announced that future ICA dealings will be open to the media, in an effort to increase the credibility of this body.

The membership of the FIA Committee (which is divided between the World Motor Sports Council and the World Council of Tourism and the Automobile) was dominated by Europeans with 20 of the 38 elected members coming from European countries. This time there are 40 elected members of which 20 come from Europe (Austria, Belgium x 2, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France x 2, Germany x 2, Greece, Italy x 2, Monaco, Poland, Romania, Spain x 2, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey). There remain six South Americans (Argentina x 2, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela); Asian involvement remains at five (China, India, Japan x 2 and the Philippines); there are still two delegates from Australasia (Australia and New Zealand); but only one from the Middle East (Jordan) and two Africans (Uganda and Algeria). There are two North American representative (both from the United States).

The traditional honorary awards which are handed out to those leaving the FIA included Vice-President of Honor status to Dardoufas and Ecclestone.