LAURA VILLARS Takes FIA Election Fight to Court Despite December Loss

March 12, 2025

• LAURA VILLARS isn’t backing down from her fight against the FIA’s presidential election process, even after being blocked from the December ballot. The 28-year-old Swiss-French racer took her case to Paris courts, arguing the governing body’s election rules don’t meet basic governance standards for an international organization.
• While the emergency injunction didn’t stop Ben Sulayem’s unopposed re-election this week, VILLARS scored a meaningful victory – the court agreed her challenge has merit and scheduled a full hearing for February 2026. This keeps the door open to potentially overturn the election results if the court finds the process fundamentally flawed.
• The core issue exposes how the FIA’s own rules create impossible barriers for challengers. VILLARS and fellow candidate Tim Mayer were both blocked because they couldn’t secure required regional representatives – not due to lack of support, but because there’s literally only one South American on the official list, and she’s already on Ben Sulayem’s team. It’s a rigged system disguised as proper procedure.

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