Fernando Alonso and Mohammed Ben Sreyem, candidate for FIA's next president in the photo
FIA (International Automobile Federation) presidential election to be held in December of this year. Mohammed Ben Sreyem, who has announced that he will run for this, will have CEOs in the motorsports and automotive divisions respectively when he becomes chairman of the FIA, and doubles the world's motorsport competition population. Talk about your aspirations. An election will be held in December of this year to replace Jean Todt, the incumbent FIA president. At the moment, the two are expected to run for this, one of whom is Mohammed Ben Sreyem. If he wins, it means that the first FIA president from outside Europe will be born. Ben Sreyem is well known in the Middle East motorsports world. He has a history of winning the Rally Championship in the Middle East, then chaired the UAE (Arab Emirates) Motorsports Federation, and since 2008 he has been Vice President of Motorsports at the FIA and the WMSC (World Motorsport Council). I was attending the meeting). But why did he decide to run for the FIA presidential election? "Motorsport has given me so much. It's no exaggeration to say that most of my life," says Ben Sreyem. "I spent more than 20 years as a driver and won 14 times in the Middle East Rally Championship. After that, I was the organizer of motorsports in my home country. It's time to give back to this sport and the FIA. I think I'm passionate about making changes, improving, following a few steps, and not just evolving. ”Ben Sreyem has been considering running for the FIA presidential election for several years now. rice field. And with Todd serving as FIA president for three terms and retiring, Ben Sreyem has a chance. In his recently released manifesto, he claims to increase the competitive population of motorsports around the world and make the FIA's financial situation more transparent. And his policy in running the FIA is different from incumbent Todd and his rival Graham Stoker. Most importantly, he is hiring a CEO who reports directly to the chairman to run the FIA. During the time of Todd and his predecessor, Max Mosley, the chairman himself ran the FIA and had a secretary general for motorsports and mobility respectively. In contrast, the operating policy proposed by Ben Sreyem should give the CEO very strong authority and make the FIA more practical. "Daily management shouldn't be done by the chairman," says Ben Sreyem. "I don't want to manage in detail. I want to be chairman and lead the FIA, but I want to give daily instructions to the CEO who can connect sports and mobility." And when he is elected, he and his CEO will aim to double the world's motorsport competition in four years. Ben Sreyem points out that Finland, with a population of 5.5 million, has 11,000 competition license holders, but China and India, which have a larger population, each have only 4000 competition license holders. .. He argues that he has plenty of potential to grow. So how is he trying to make it happen? He gives an example of the spread of the FIA's low-cost rally concept, the "cross car." This cross car is an off-road buggy equipped with a motorcycle engine like a go-kart, and can be said to be one of the entrances to circuit racing. "We need to have an affordable car for the entry level," says Ben Sreyem. "We started something called a crosscar. It's great and I believe there's a future. It was supposed to cost around 8,000 euros (about 1.05 million yen) at first, but that's it. It has jumped to 25,000 euros. If you look at India and China, they have an engine, so do we need to push it (cross car)? We're blue Wouldn't it be nice to draw pictures, oversee safety regulations and allow them to participate in regional and regional championships themselves? The goal of doubling the number of competitors in four years could be achieved. "F1 and WRC can be said to be very healthy in good condition, but the world needs more and more, that is, at the local and local levels. Local participants, local events. And we need a local event, which can only be achieved if we can create an affordable way. "Ben Sreyem just doubles the number of participants in motorsports. Instead, we would like to make the FIA financially more transparent by strengthening the axis of motor sports in each region. "The FIA's finances aren't healthy. We want to see the finances and their proofs to bring the FIA back to a more positive form of business," says Ben Sreyem. "If you really want to be accepted by the world, transparency and accountability are really important. For example, when we want to find out something, it's very hard to get an FIA spending report. It was difficult, so I believe we should emulate the world's major organizations, such as the IOC (World Olympic Commission) with which we have relationships. All spending reports are listed on their website. If he is elected, the candidates for vice president include the names of WRC champion Robert Reed as a co-driver and Fabiana, wife of Bernie Eccleston. .. The election to decide the new FIA president will take place on December 17th in Paris. It will be an important election to set the course for the next four years in terms of addressing all the challenges facing motorsport, such as environmental friendliness and diversity issues.
James Allen
