Vatanen seeks court help for election

Amid increasing tension between motor racing's governing body and Vatanen about the forthcoming vote, the FIA issued a critical statement on Friday claiming that the former world rally champion's latest move had brought undue negative publicity.

The governing body claimed that the checks and balances already in place were more than enough to ensure that the forthcoming vote could take place without any doubt about the election's democratic integrity.

"Mr Ari Vatanen, one of the candidates for the FIA Presidency, has today served on the FIA an application to the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, asking the Court to impose a number of measures for the FIA election," said the FIA statement.

"Had Mr Vatanen troubled to examine the procedures in place, he would understand that these in fact already provide more safeguards than those he is asking the Court to impose.

"The FIA is therefore at a loss to explain the purpose of this legal action, if not merely to generate further negative publicity and to attempt to raise doubts about the honesty of FIA staff. This is despite the fact that a large team of FIA personnel has worked continuously over recent months to ensure that the new FIA President is elected in a dignified and democratic way.

"The FIA has retained a public official (a Huissier de Justice) to supervise the electoral process and the count. On 15 October the FIA circulated a note to all voting members outlining in detail the election process to be deployed and the role that the Huissier will play. This is available to download in the governance section of the FIA website.

"This legal action follows a number of allegations made by Mr Vatanen to the media which attempt to call into question the integrity of the FIA's personnel and the FIA's election process. However, Mr Vatanen has not taken up an invitation to specify and substantiate his allegations."

The latest development comes following reports that the FIA has been doing all it can to ensure that outgoing president Max Mosley's preferred candidate Jean Todt wins the election.

As well as suggestions that FIA Foundation Director General David Ward has been lobbying for Todt in his spare time, leaked emails have also revealed that Peter Doggwiler,the FIA Motor Sport Safety Development Fund chairman, has also been petitioning clubs to help boost support for Todt.