J Prithviraj Elected FMSCI president

The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) confirmed yesterday that Mr. J Prithviraj (centre of the picture) will serve as the new president while Tutu Dhawan will be the vice president. The FMSCI also announced the formation of the new governing council for 2014-15 which will see the introduction of two new members, including former racing driver Akbar Ebrahim (extreme left in picture).

Prithviraj has been a councillor since 2007 and the Vice President of the FMSCI for two years, being Chairman and a member of various FMSCI sub committees.

Prithviraj was elected to the post of president after a controversial election procedure following the resignation of previous president Vicky Chandhok.

An appeal in the Madras High Court followed the decision to disallow Prithviraj's opponent Srikanth Karani, from Mumbai, to contest the election due to a change in the FMSCI election procedures made last year by the outgoing Chandhok that disallowed organizations that were not non-profit from contesting the elections, under which Karani's Sportscraft did not meet the requirements.

After much messy back and forth including the revelation that the requirement was for the FMSCI itself - in order to comply with a government regulation by the Ministry of Sport - and not the individual clubs whose representatives can contest the elections, the Madras High Court ordered the results of the elections to become public, following which Prithviraj will assume the post of president.

The end of Chandhok's tenure as FMSCI president was marked by the news of the Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix not being on the 2014 F1 world championship calendar as well as a messy dispute with JK Tyre's motorsport head Sanjay Sharma (extreme right in picture) over the fees to use the Madras Motorsport Race Track near Chennai for rounds of the JK Tyre Racing Championship.

It remains to be seen if under Prithviraj's leadership, the severed ties will be mended.