CHENNAI: Vicky Chandhok was unanimously re-elected the president of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India at its 38th annual general body meeting in Chennai on Tuesday. Chaired by Vijay Mallya, a delegate of the World Motorsport Council, Bharat Raj was appointed the vice President.
Apart from hosting India’s maiden Formula One event, the year gone by had been a watershed for the sport in the country for various reasons. For the first time in the FIA history, the Annual FIA Awards Ceremony was held outside of Europe, in New Delhi. Another first was that the Annual General Assembly Gala was combined with the Awards Ceremony, making it the largest contingent of FIA delegates, with over 750 delegates from 120 countries marking their presence in Delhi.
The FIA, taking recognition of the FMSCI and of India, has for the first time ratified the nominations of eight Indians to the various global commissions of the FIA. They are B Vijay Kumar (single-seater racing), J Balamurugan (drag racing), Manvendra Singh (historic Motorsport), Shivu Shivappa (rally), Manjeet Bhalla (cross country rally), Vicky Chandhok (CIK Karting), Farhan Vohra (circuits) and Prabha Shankar (officials and volunteers).
The president felt that the sport’s progress should be sustained. “It is imperative that we continue to develop the sport and the infrastructure. It is very important for India now to be seen as a team player and therefore all people nominated to the commissions are delegates with experience and people who can contribute to the running and administration of global motorsport,” he said.
He also specified that the delegates should ensure India benefits as a motorsport destination from the appointments of various Commissions. “This worked very well in the case of Formula 1 where years of solid interaction finally resulted in the Olympics of motorsport coming to India. Similar are the goals for our various delegates in these commissions,” he said.