APRIL 5, 2011

Todt gets sparky

FIA president Jean Todt has been asked by the European Commission to set up electric-powered racing championships for single-seaters, saloons and karts as a means of fostering interest in new technologies.

While Todt and Bernie Ecclestone have recently locked horns over the introduction of small capacity hybrid turbocharged engines in F1 in 2013, the FIA has established an electric car commission headed by former BMW director Burkhard Goeschel.

"The first season for electric car racing could be 2013 and as global as the FIA can make it," Todt said in an interview with the Financial Times.

Todt, formely sporting director at both Peugeot and Ferrari, conceded that new technologies often meet with resistance in motor sport. "It costs money and research time and doesn't improve performance, so I understand that," he said.

Ominously for Ecclestone and F1 commercial rights holder CVC, not only are the F1 teams likely to seek a better deal when the current commercial agreement runs out at the end of 2012, but Todt has also said that he wants the same thing for the governing body.

"Technology has changed. Evolution has a price. I must make sure that the funding for the FIA is correct..."