FILE: MOTOR RACING - FIA president Max Mosley says former Ferrari boss Jean Todt would be the ideal person to replace him

Record ID: 722529

  • Title: FILE: MOTOR RACING - FIA president Max Mosley says former Ferrari boss Jean Todt would be the ideal person to replace him
  • Date: 16th July 2009
  • Summary: FILE - BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MAY 2006) (REUTERS) CLOSE-UP OF MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND FORMER RALLY CHAMPION ARI VATANEN ARI VATANEN SHAKING HANDS WITH FORMER RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER MIKHAIL KASYANOV
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2009 13:00
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  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA4N6J3YSYT89ZP8ZDFWHY4G91J
  • Story Text: Max Mosley backed former Ferrari boss Jean Todt as his ideal replacement on Wednesday (July 15) after ending speculation that he would seek a fifth term as International Automobile Federation (FIA) president.
    He presented Todt as the best man to take over, an endorsement that would give the Frenchman a huge advantage for the October election but that is unlikely to go down well with Formula One teams still threatening a breakaway series.
    "If he agrees to stand, I think he would be the ideal person to continue but also to extend the work of the past 16 years," the 69-year-old Briton said in a letter to all FIA member clubs.
    "He can be relied on in all areas where the FIA is active. I very much hope you will give him your support."
    Todt, 63, presided over Ferrari's most successful period in Formula One with Germany's Michael Schumacher winning five titles in a row between 2000 and 2004. The team also racked up six successive constructors' titles.
    The Frenchman won the world rally championship, the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race and Paris-Dakar as head of Peugeot motorsport. He was also CEO of Ferrari and has been involved in road safety and environmental campaigns for the FIA.
    He has also been a controversial figure, ordering Brazilian Rubens Barrichello to let Schumacher win the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix in a decision that triggered a global furore and led to so-called 'team orders' being banned.
    Finland's Ari Vatanen, the 1981 world rally champion, is so far the only declared candidate to run motor sport's world governing body.
    He won the Dakar Rally under Todt and has the support of American Automobile Association (AAA) president Robert Darbelnet, a strong critic of Mosley when the Briton was caught in a sado-masochistic sex scandal last year."
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