FIA presidential election to go ahead as Paris court orders trial

A Paris court has ruled Laura Villars’ challenge against the FIA will proceed to trial but won’t prevent next week’s presidential election from being held.

Presidential candidate Villars sued the FIA in October over rules that mean only incumbent Mohammed Ben Sulayem is allowed to run.

Each contender needs to put together a team of seven vice-presidents from the FIA’s six global regions, but the only eligible vice-president from South America, Fabiana Ecclestone, pledged her support to Ben Sulayem.

This forced all three challengers – Villars, Tim Mayer and Virginie Philippot – to withdraw their bids.

Under the fast-tracked référé procedure, a first hearing took place on 10 November.

Villars and lawyer Robin Binsard denounced “the impossibility of presenting an alternate bid; the unprecedented situation of having one single eligible candidate for the South American region; the nominating committee’s transparency and methods; the electoral procedures’ compliance with the governance, democracy and integrity principles which the FIA advocates for,” a press release from Villars stated.

Laura Villars

Photo by: Laura Villars

The Tribunal judiciaire de Paris ruled on Wednesday that a full trial would be necessary; only then will these themes be debated.

The trial will take place from 16 February 2026, meaning the presidential election will go ahead on 12 December in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

If the outcome of the trial is unfavourable to the FIA, Ben Sulayem’s impending election could be annulled.

Mayer’s FIA Forward campaign labelled this initial ruling as a “reasonable and expected response” given the complexity of the case, the fast-tracked process and the fact that not all evidence was presented in the référé hearing.

Additional reporting by Basile Davoine