FIA to appeal Briatore decision
Briatore won an appeal hearing last week and his lifetime ban was overturned
Monday, 11, Jan 2010 04:54
By Adam Leveridge
The FIA has announced its intention to appeal the French court's decision to overturn former Renault team principal Flavio Briatore's lifetime ban from all FIA-sanctioned motorsport series.
In an extraordinary hearing of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in September 2009, Briatore was handed an indefinite ban from F1 and all other FIA-run championships for his involvement in the controversial Singapore grand prix race-fixing scandal, where Nelson Piquet Junior was instructed to deliberately crash his car in order to assist his Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso.
However, Briatore wasn't satisfied with the FIA's handling of the scandal and took his case to the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris where his ban was lifted last week.
But the race-fixing controversy is set to roll on as the FIA intends to appeal against the court's decision.
In a statement, the governing body said: "In his election campaign last summer, FIA president Jean Todt and his team announced that new measures for constructive change, including a disciplinary procedure, would be introduced.
"Work on this is well advanced. Once in place, this will address the issues in the court's judgement. Nonetheless, an appeal is merited."
Despite being ordered to honour the court's decision, the FIA has stated that Briatore's ban will "remain in full effect while the appeal is underway".
However, it has decided that "pending the outcome of the FIA's appeal, superlicences will continue to be issued in the usual way".
"The FIA president, the FIA senate, the WMSC, and the FIA's member clubs from all countries will take whatever measures are necessary to ensure the continuing integrity and safety of the sport."