NOVEMBER 9, 2004

Regis encourages French companies to support racing

Jacques Regis, the president of the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile, says that French companies should come to the aid of the country's racing stars and help them to get to the top. France is looking at a situation next year in which there will be no French F1 driver for the first time since the mid 1960s. And yet, at the same time, France has done remarkably well outside Formula 1 with Sebastien Loeb winning the World Rally Championship and Sebastien Bourdais becoming the first French-born racer to win the National Championship in America since Gaston Chevrolet won the AAA series back in 1920.

Both Bourdais and Loeb are graduates of the FFSA's "Equipe de France" programme.

"It has been a great year for French motorsport," said Regis. "We would like to congratulate Sebastien on his achievement in America. This combined with Sebastian Loeb's victory in the WRC shows the value of what we have been doing with young drivers in recent years and their quality . It is a great inspiration for the youngsters who want to go racing in France. We have 70,000 licence holders and we hope that the success of these two young men will help to inspire a new generation of French champions and encourage French companies to be more active in its support and help us to build more success for France in the longer term."