Todt’s candidacy was supported by Mosley himself, so no big surprise here. He took 135 votes against Vatanen’s 49, with 12 abstentions.

After a successful rallying career, Todt made his name as a manager first with Peugeot, taking them to back-to-back Le Mans titles in 1992 and 1993, then with Ferrari, where he was the head of the Ross Brawn–Michael Schumacher–Rory Byrne machine which dominated the sport for close to a decade.

Flanking Todt above is Bond girl Michelle Yeoh, his current partner. Yes, the French have excellent taste.

Source: BBC

Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

The 69-year-old, who had last month hinted he might go back on an earlier decision to stand down, revealed his decision in a letter to FIA members.

"I have decided to reconfirm my decision - I will not be a candidate in October," Mosley wrote.

Mosley has endorsed former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt as his successor. Yes, because luckily Todt's won't, you know, be rooting for any one team, right? Oh wait, yeah, he might be.

We've received a copy of the letter from FIA and have republished images of the scanned PDF file below along with a quick biography on Mosley. Click next to read through the whole shebang.

Max Rufus Mosley (born 13 April 1940) is president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association that represents the interests of motoring organisations and car users worldwide. The FIA is also the governing body for Formula One and other international motorsports.

A former barrister and amateur racing driver, Mosley was a founder and co-owner of March Engineering, a successful racing car constructor and Formula One racing team. He looked after legal and commercial issues for the company between 1969 and 1977. In the late 1970s, Mosley became the official legal adviser to the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA), the body which represents Formula One constructors. In this role he drew up the first version of the Concorde Agreement, which settled a long-standing dispute between FOCA and the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA), the then governing body of Formula One. Mosley was elected president of FISA in 1991 and became president of the FIA, FISA's parent body, in 1993. Mosley has identified his major achievement as FIA President as the promotion of the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP or Encap), a European car safety performance assessment programme. He has also promoted increased safety and the use of green technologies in motor racing. In 2008, stories about his sex life appeared in the British press. Despite the controversy, Mosley retained his position.

Mosley is the son of Oswald Mosley, former leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), and Diana Mitford. He was educated in France, Germany and Britain before going on to attend university at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in physics. In his teens and early twenties Mosley was involved with his father's post-war political party, the Union Movement (UM). He has said that the association of his surname with fascism stopped him from developing his interest in politics further, although he briefly worked for the Conservative Party in the early 1980s. [via Wikipedia]

Photo Credit: Paul Gilham / Getty Images Sport

[via FIA]

[via FIA]

Along with agreeing to not run for a fifth term as head of FIA, Mosley stated:

"There will be no split. We have agreed to a reduction of costs. There will be one F1 championship, but the objective is to get back to the spending levels of the early '90s within two years."

We'll have more shortly on what this all means. [Times Online]

You just know something’s amiss when you are greeted with FIA president Max Mosley’s very British grimace on Jalopnik as you boot up in the morning. Turns out “Formula 1 is finished,” as two-time world champion Fernando Alonso has described the current situation to the BBC.

The current situation is only slightly simpler than the internal politics of Afghanistan, with power-hungry old white men scheming behind closed doors. The only difference seems to be their lack of flowing beards and Stinger missiles—but then Max Mosley would make a great Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

What is the current situation, exactly? Most of the major teams have refused to accept Mosley’s scheme to turn Formula One into a two-tiered, budget regulated series, with teams who agree to run on an arbitrary budget set by Mosley getting access to slacker regulations: higher revving engines, more aggressive aerodynamics, the works. The teams have correctly argued that this runs against the very essence of Formula One: namely, that cars built to the same set of regulations–or formulae–race each other. Bunny rabbits may occasionally race against the cars, as seen at last year’s British Grand Prix, but they do not figure in the official results.

Mosley’s fear seems to be that current expenditures will drive major manufacturers out of the sport as car companies will not be willing to pay half a billion dollars a year for a vanity product in these financially bleak times. So far, the only manufacturer which has actually quit was Honda—but not before handing former team principal Ross Brawn the current season’s most dominant car, the BGP-001, campaigned with an 86% win rate thus far by Jenson Button.

Just to put Mosley’s budget cap in perspective: his suggested $65 million a year is exactly half as much as the amount paid a week ago by a Spanish football team for a single player. Great footballers have their price, even obnoxious bastards like Real Madrid’s latest pick Cristiano Ronaldo, but they certainly don’t require expensive, one-off machines made of carbon fiber and titanium to do their thing.

It’s all very sad, really, but is perhaps an inevitable conclusion to the bullying and thuggery Max Mosley and commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone have subjected Formula One to over the past decades. While many involved in F1 have become very rich in the meantime, the biggest money was made not by the people who actually go out there and race cars, but the very few who have brokered deals.

It may be unavoidable or it may be a historical artifact dating back to the late 70s when the very same duo made Formula One into the global media juggernaut it currently is. But it has certainly not helped the sport’s long-term survival. Formula One at the moment is subject to rapid, arbitrary rule changes and it is increasingly raced on tracks worlds away from the sport’s historic and financial heartlands—Europe and North America.

The series began in 1950 at Silverstone, a converted airfield in postwar England which will host its last race this Sunday. The teams have until today evening to reach a last minute compromise. Otherwise, the cars on the grid on Sunday afternoon may take part in not just the last grand prix at Silverstone—but in the last grand prix of a Formula One with a future.

Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images, DIMITRI KOCHKO/AFP/Getty Images, MAX NASH/AFP/Getty Images, SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images

Sir Francis has not had it easy. He has been in Formula One for an incredible four decades now, starting out with a second-hand Brabham chassis in 1969, and it wasn’t until ten years later that his team scored their first win, with Clay Regazzoni taking the 1979 British Grand Prix.

His grassroots operation has seen its share of deaths, beginning with Piers Courage at Zandvoort and ending with Ayrton Senna at Imola. Williams himself has been confined to a wheelchair for 23 years since he flipped his rental car in France and crashed his spine into the roof.

None of this, however, has managed to cloud his essential devotion to motor racing:

I love what I do. All the people at Williams love what they do. Patrick [Head, Williams engineering director], my partner, feels exactly the same — he just wants to go racing, winning. We’re very upset with ourselves because we haven’t done any real winning for a very long time. It’s now about 10 years or something. And it’s very embarrassing, but we have to live with that. It’s our own fault, nobody else’s. And we have to get the sun to shine again soon.

That sun may shine on a forlorn landscape: talks between the Formula One Teams Association and Max Mosley’s FIA have broken down a few hours ago, leaving only Force India in Formula One from the current grid, apart from Williams.

Whatever happens, Williams will be at the British Grand Prix this weekend, the stage of their first victory thirty years ago. Barring supreme weirdness, they are not likely to mark the occasion with another win. Brawn GP driver Jenson Button enters his home Grand Prix as the runaway favorite, after winning six of the season’s seven races thus far.

Still, consider the sheer enthusiasm of the man for noisy, fast machinery:

One of the biggest thrills of my life was I went to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona and I watched from 50 meters to the right side of the runway, the flight of four F-15c’s at takeoff, two by two, the second just five seconds after the first, and the noise! The ground shook! I was a guest of a colonel in the air force. I said, ‘Will you be using reheat?’ — which you call afterburn — and he said, ‘No, but if you want it, I can tell them.’ And I’ve never forgotten it. The noise! The power! And they got to the end and they went whoosh, it was almost vertical. Fantastic. Speed and noise.

Source: The New York Times, Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images, ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images, Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Ferrari and Renault join a growing number of teams including Red Bull, Toyota and BMW that have also threatened to leave the sport for 2010. The new technical regulations state that the FIA will give certain advantages to budget capped teams, causing a major disrupt in the competitive nature of the sport.

With the May 29th deadline for official entries looming, it appears that only the Williams, Force India and Brawn team will make the entry date for next year's world championship. Rumors are quickly spreading that there could be a split in F1, not unlike that of Indycar and CART, and we all know how well that ended. A full list of the 2010 FIA Sporting Regulations can be seen HERE. (Photo Credit: Flickr) [via FormulaOne: 1, 2]

The death has not been ruled as suspicious, though GrandPrix.com is reporting on speculation it was the result of a drug overdose. His father has canceled a trip to the Spanish GP in order be with his family.

[F1 Live, GrandPrix.com]

Photo Credit: SkyNews

It was an exciting race with many new contenders including the new Nissan GT-R and the Ford GT in GT1, the Ferrari F430 Scuderia, Audi R8 LMS and Alpina B6 in GT3. In the end though it was the beefcake K plus K Motorsports Saleen S7R that took top honors ahead of the Vitaphone Maserati MC12 and the Corvette C6R. The GT2 class was outgunned by the Prospeed Competition Porsche GT3 RSR tailed closely by a couple of Ferrari F430 GT2s. Hey Ferrari ... No soup for you! Audi's R8 LMS took third place in the 35-large group of GT3 cars, just trailing a pair of Morgan Aeros who took first and second place.

Race Result
Pos Car Class Drivers Car Time Laps Gap Avg speed
1 14 GT1 Wendlinger/Sharp Saleen S7 2:00:10.556 65 166.83
2 1 GT1 Bertolini/Bartels Maserati MC 12 2:00:16.055 65 5.499 166.70
3 19 GT1 Moreau/Maassen Corvette Z06 2:00:36.512 65 25.956 166.23
4 4 GT1 Hezemans/Kumpen Corvette Z06 2:00:41.120 65 30.564 166.12
5 18 GT1 Lacko/Dominguez Saleen S7 2:01:10.184 65 59.628 165.46
6 3 GT1 Longin/Ruffier Corvette Z06 2:01:54.380 65 1:43.824 164.46
7 9 GT1 Menten/Palttala Corvette Z06 2:00:31.041 64 1 LAP 163.79
8 44 GT1 Mutsch/Biagi Ford GT (001 PT GT1) 2:01:32.547 64 1 LAP 162.41
9 11 GT1 Hines/Lemeret Saleen S7 Twin Turbo 2:01:50.274 64 1 LAP 162.02
10 40 GT1 Leinders/Kuppens Ford GT (001 PT GT1) 2:01:06.880 63 2 LAPS 160.44
11 60 GT2 Westbrook/Collard Porsche 911 GT3 RS 2:00:33.834 62 3 LAPS 158.62
12 95 GT2 Russo/Perez Companc Ferrari 430 2:00:46.569 62 3 LAPS 158.34
13 56 GT2 Bell/Kirkaldy Ferrari 430 2:01:26.465 62 3 LAPS 157.47
14 77 GT2 Malucelli/Ruberti Ferrari 430 2:01:28.605 62 3 LAPS 157.42
15 51 GT2 Barba Lopez/Cadei Ferrari 430 2:01:36.937 62 3 LAPS 157.24
16 61 GT2 O'Young/Holzer Porsche 911 GT3 RS 2:01:38.252 62 3 LAPS 157.22
17 80 GT2 Mucke/Makowiecki AM V8 Vantage 2:00:18.171 61 4 LAPS 156.40
18 97 GT2 Ragginger/Lucchini Porsche 911 GT3 RS 2:00:31.727 61 4 LAPS 156.10
19 55 GT2 Mullen/Niarchos Ferrari 430 2:00:34.463 61 4 LAPS 156.04
20 78 GT2 Heyer/Romanini Ferrari 430 2:01:37.921 61 4 LAPS 154.69
21 150 G3C Alexander-Davi/Lagniez Corvette Z06 GT3 2:00:38.993 58 7 LAPS 148.28
22 50 GT2 Bruni/Vilander Ferrari 430 1:43:25.038 53 12 LAPS 158.08
23 13 GT1 Monfardini/Orts Saleen S7 1:18:09.050 39 26 LAPS 153.94
24 2 GT1 Muller/Ramos Maserati MC 12 51:20.937 28 37 LAPS 168.22
25 35 GT1 Krumm/Turner Nissan GT-R 52:23.201 28 37 LAPS 164.89
26 59 GT2 Sugden/Ashburn Porsche 911 GT3 RS 45:36.154 24 41 LAPS 162.37

Session Notes
Weather bright
Track conditions dry

[via FIAGT]

The FIA has rejected the appeals brought against the teams using the new diffusers by Ferrari, Red Bull Racing, Renault, McLaren and BMW. The decision is a major boost for Brawn GP, which leads the championship after Jenson Button’s back to back wins in Australia and Malaysia.

“The FIA technical department, the stewards at the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix and now five judges at the ICA [motorsport governing body FIA’s International Court of Appeal] have confirmed our belief that our cars have always strictly complied with the 2009 technical regulations,” Ross Brawn, the clear benefactor of the decison said. “The decision of the ICA brings this matter to its conclusion and we look forward to continuing on the track the challenge of what has been a very exciting start to the world championship.”

If you’re curious about the precise technical details of Brawn’s new diffusers, Forumula1.net has a great explanation.

Photo Credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images

There's been news of a GT-R coming to GT1 for some time, but this past week finally made it true thanks in part to both Nissan's motorsport division, NISMO and Gigawave Motorsport. Though news of Godzilla's GT1 debut was impressive, it wasn't the only new entry in the field. Matech Racing also brought out its new Ford GT1, which, along with the GT-R GT1, is first to meet the FIA's new 2010 regulations. Two days and 49 cars attended the test day event at the Paul Ricard Circuit in France including a multitude of GT1 Corvette C6.Rs, Saleen S7Rs, Maserati MC12s as well as GT3 Porsche RSRs and Ferrari F430s.

During the vehicle reveal press conference, Hans Reiter of Reiter Engineering, best known for their Lamborghini Gallardo GT3, gave the press this little jewel of info;

"As some of you may know, Lamborghini has recently released a new version of the Murciélago, SV version, 670 hp, 6.7 litre, and this will be our car for the GT1 World Championship. Unfortunately, the car is not ready yet as the car was only launched in March, but should be ready for the second part of the season."

Look for the first race of the FIA GT series to kick off at Silverstone next month which will feature the FIA GT Championship, FIA GT3 European Championship, GT4 European Cup and finally, the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo.

[via FIA GT]

The FIA official driving the R28 was none other than Mohammed bin Sulayem, the U.A.E. automobile club president and FIA Vice President. According to early reports, the car swung heavily to the right under heavy acceleration on the main straight of the Dubai Autodrome, causing it to crash into a concrete barrier. Sulayem was subsequently sent to the on-track medical center and according to a Renault spokesman, he was uninjured and the car will be repaired to continue this weeks 'Roadshow.' [via F1-live]

Nissan will be entering their GT-R in the FIA GT Championship for 2010. Based heavily on the GT-R chassis, virtually everything else about the car is upgraded or replaced. There's a VK56DE 5.5 liter V8 good for 600 HP and 480 lb-ft of torque, a Ricardo sequential transmission, carbon carbon brakes and 18" forged racing wheels. Looks pretty slow, don't you think?

R35 NISSAN GT-R to the 2010 FIA GT1 Regulation

* Type of engine: VK56DE
* Displacement: 5552 cc
* Max. horsepower: 600hp according to the 2010 regulation
* Max. torque: > 650Nm
* Clutch: 5.5″carbon triple plate
* Type of gearbox: Ricardo 6 speed transaxle Overall length: 4730 mm
* Overall width: 2040 mm
* Wheelbase: 2780 mm
* Track (front): 1670 mm
* Track (Rear): 1710 mm
* Weight: 1250kg according to the 2010 regulation
* Brake (front): 6 piston caliper
with carbon disc and pad
* Brake (rear): 6 piston caliper with carbon disc and pad
* Type of suspension (front): Double wishbone suspension
* Type of suspension (rear): Multi-link suspension
* Drive system: RWD
* Wheel (front): 13.0J×18
* Wheel (rear): 13.0J×18
* Tire (front): 31/71-18
* Tire (rear): 31/71-18

[ZerotoHundred via GTR Blog]

Sunday's Australian Grand Prix finished with Brawn GP’s Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in first and second place, with Jarno Trulli of Toyota in third. Soon afterward, Trulli was given a 25-second penalty for passing Hamilton under safety car conditions, pushing him down to 12th place, handing Lewis Hamilton the podium. Until today.

What triggered the whole sequence of events began three laps from the end of the race. Robert Kubica of BMW made a move to pass Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull for second place. Vettel defended his position in an aggressive manner, which led to the front wings of their cars tangling up. After separation, Kubica crashed into a wall, raining debris on the track. The safety car was called in to lead the field until officials could clean up the BMW’s bits.

When the safety car is out, drivers cannot pass each other, except if someone leaves the track. This is what happened at Turn 15, as Jarno Trulli of Toyota—now running in third place after Kubica and Vettel crashed out—ran wide, and Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren passed him. This was captured on video by a spectator. Watch the action unfold in the first five seconds:

The race ended under safety car conditions, with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in the Brawns first and second—but then Jarno Trulli crossed the finish line in third. Which meant that he must have passed Hamilton on his way in: an illegal move behind the safety car (unless, of course, Hamilton ran wide at some point, akin to Trulli).

No footage exists of Trulli’s re-pass. He got on the podium with Button and Barrichelo, then a few hours after the race, he was promptly given a 25-second penalty for the re-pass, demoting him to 12th place, handing Hamilton the podium finish.

What Trulli had to say:

When the safety car came out towards the end of the race, Hamilton passed me [this is what we can see on the fan footage – Ed.] but soon after he suddenly slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. I thought he had a problem so I overtook him as there was nothing else I could do.

Hamilton, immediately after the race to Speed TV’s reporter, claimed:

I was forced to go by [referring again to the pass captured on video – Ed.]. I slowed down as much as I could. I was told to let him back past, but I mean…I don’t know if that’s the regulations, and if it isn’t, then I should have really had third.

However, this is apparently not what he told the race stewards in his testimony of the incident—which was the testimony the steward partly based their penalty of Trulli on. There is no direct quote to be found, but he apparently stated that Trulli simply sped by him. Which, of course, is illegal under the safety car. But which may not be the truth.

The FIA has now reviewed the incident, issuing the following statement:

The Stewards having considered the new elements presented to them from the 2009 Australian Formula One Grand Prix, consider that driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and the competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes acted in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of the event by providing evidence deliberately misleading to the Stewards at the hearing on Sunday 29th March 2009, a breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code.

Under Article 158 of the International Sporting Code the driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and the competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes are excluded from the race classification for the 2009 Australian Grand Prix and the classification is amended accordingly.

These “new elements” are supposedly radio transmissions from the McLaren pits to Hamilton, telling him to slow down and force Trulli to pass him—in line with what he said to Speed TV’s reporter.

Basically, McLaren acted in a very shady way. This is what Brad Spurgeon of the NY Times wrote this morning from Malaysia, where the teams are getting ready for this weekend’s Grand Prix:

The story in the paddock is that Hamilton told the television reporter that the team had told him to let Trulli re-pass him because McLaren was worried that Hamilton should not have passed Trulli when Trulli went into the grass under the safety car. Hamilton had slowed down to let Trulli pass. But Hamilton did not tell this same story to the stewards, rather saying that Trulli had just sped past him.

He adds:

As I waited in the heat of the afternoon outside the McLaren meeting area for some kind of statement, a German journalist with whom I was supposed to have an interview with Hamilton in a few minutes—the interview was canceled—quipped to me: “Hamilton is a perfect replacement for Michael Schumacher.”

So there you have it. McLaren has just joined Ferrari in the 0 points club, while the podium of the Australian Grand Prix is now Button, Barrichello and Trulli again. For the time being.

All we need now is for Max Mosley to march through the pits with a whip in his hand, spanking both Hamilton and Trulli on the rear ends while sweltering in the Indochina heat in his SS uniform to make this whole story more intriguing.

Photo Credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images, WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Image, PAUL CROCK/AFP/Getty Images, Clive Mason/Getty Images

The opening race of the new Formula 2 series in 2009 will give race fans a chance to see Natacha Gachnang, the talented (both on and off the track), Swiss-born rising star of the racing world. The 21-year-old driver has had an exciting career so far in the Spanish Formula 3 Championship, where she finished third overall. She also finished second in the Copa de España. Prior to her career in Formula 3 she was racing in the F3 Euro Series; the Austrian Formula 3 Series, where she finished fourth overall; and the U.S.-based Star Mazda series.

Formula 2 is a new international single-seater FIA sanctioned series, derived from an FIA initiative to provide young, talented drivers with the opportunity to compete in top-level racing on a competitive budget. The opening race of the inaugural championship begins in May 2009.

[via Natacha-Gachnang.ch, Formula 2]

Probably not, but we’re still disappointed we didn’t see something like this in Chrysler’s 2009 Lineup. Not only would the portly Dodge Challenger make a less-than-ideal racecar platform, but Chrysler is so low on cash that it’s shuttering its factories tomorrow with no confirmed date for their reopening. We’re guessing that precludes a new factory race program. That’s a shame though; this rendered Challenger GT looks an awful lot better than a foam Dodge Durango. [Vizualtech via MotorAuthority]

So far we've gotten confirmation of Subaru and Suzuki out of WRC, Porsche (LMP2) and Audi (LMP1) out of ALMS, and Honda out of F1. Porque?

It's all about the Carpocalypse. If a company dictates X% cuts across the board or needs to reduce expenses X% this is sometimes the easiest way to do it. There's an argument to be made the old adage "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" doesn't work if people aren't buying on Monday. Nevertheless, this is a major bummer for fans of the three large series

Prodrive/SWRT Announcement
Subaru has announced its decision to withdraw from the 2009 World Rally Championship.

This sudden decision was in response to the widespread economic downturn that is affecting the entire automotive industry, and follows Suzuki’s withdrawal announced yesterday.

After 20 years in the sport, during which time the Prodrive-run Subaru World Rally Team has won six World Rally Championship titles, this is not only sad news for Subaru and the team, but also for millions of rallying fans around the world. Thanks to its highly successful World Rally Championship programme, Subaru has developed into one of the world’s most widely recognised and evocative automotive brands.

Prodrive chairman, David Richards, said: “Subaru’s departure from the World Rally Championship is a great loss as it is one of the sport’s icons. The Subaru World Rally Team has created true champions such as Colin McRae and Richard Burns and its absence will be felt by many the world over. Although this decision closes a significant chapter in Prodrive’s history, our focus now turns to the future.”

For many, Prodrive and Subaru are synonymous, given the long-standing and close association between the two companies. However, while the Subaru World Rally Team historically represented a significant part of Prodrive’s business, today it accounts for no more than 20 per cent of the company’s turnover.

Prodrive will look to redeploy as many of the rally team as possible in other areas of its business operations, which have grown to span advanced engineering and manufacturing for the automotive, defence, marine and aerospace industries, in addition to other motorsport programmes.

Despite the current economic downturn, Prodrive’s automotive engineering business remains buoyant as it works with vehicle manufacturers to accelerate the development of next generation fuel-efficient vehicles and alternative fuel technologies.

Together with Subaru, Prodrive’s commitment to its customer rally teams will also continue unabated for 2009 and beyond. Over the past 15 years, Prodrive has sold close to 500 rally cars to more than 400 private competitors and independent rally teams in 47 countries. During this time, Prodrive’s customers have won five consecutive Production World Rally Championships and countless international rallies. In 2008, Prodrive-supported customer teams have claimed eight rally championship titles around the world.

Looking ahead, 2010 will see the introduction of new World Rally Championship technical regulations, which provide Prodrive with an opportunity to prepare for re-entering the championship with a new team and build on its 24 years of World Rally Championship experience and success.

FHI Announcement
okyo, December 16, 2008 – Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the maker of Subaru automobiles, today announced the withdrawal from the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) at the end of the 2008 season.

FHI has participated in the WRC together with Prodrive, a motorsports and automotive engineering group in the UK, over the past 19 years to pursue its goal and philosophy in motor sports activities to enhance Subaru brand awareness by showing that Subaru vehicles offer safe, comfortable and pleasurable driving no matter the weather or road conditions, featuring Horizontally-Opposed engine and the Symmetrical All-Wheel drive system as its core technologies, and to transfer results of race-tested technical improvements into Subaru passenger vehicles.

Subaru has won three manufacturer’s championship titles and three driver’s championship titles in its history of rally racing. This has helped enhance the value of the Subaru brand as well as the sales expansion of Subaru vehicles all over the world.

FHI considers it has achieved its original target in WRC participation. However, while considering positioning the WRC activity in Subaru branding strategy towards the future, our business environment has been dramatically changed due to the quick deterioration of the global economy. In order to optimize the management resources and to strengthen further the Subaru brand, FHI decided to withdraw from WRC activities at the earliest timing.

As regards future involvement in rally activities, FHI will continue to support teams and drivers that participate in P-WRC or the Group N category.

President Mori commented that reaching this decision has been an extremely difficult task, not least with regards to the countless Subaru fans that for many years have cheered the legendary Subaru blue liveried Impreza World Rally Car; “We would like to express our sincere appreciation for our fans’ strong and loyal support worldwide. They will remain an invaluable treasure for us.”

Capitalizing on the priceless experience gained throughout the history in the WRC field, FHI will continue to offer Subaru customers products that integrate sheer excitement, safe, comfortable and reliable driving, respect of the global environment and peace of mind based on its philosophy of “Customer comes first.”

[Source: Subaru, Prodrive]

It's interesting that Mosley is promoting energy-efficient programs as the future of F1 racing, and it shows quite a bit of foresight. After all, kinetic energy recovery as developed under grueling race conditions has a good chance of resulting in improved systems for road-going cars. The question is, will race fans give a damn about how one team's KERS system is giving them an extra second per lap, or would they rather hear a tiny pneumatic-valve V8 spinning at 10,000 RPM as the driver bangs through a seven-speed sequential 'box? [Autosport.com]