FIA rally director Matton leaves role on eve of 2022 Rally1 shift

Matton joined the FIA as rally director in 2018 and has been a key icon in the roll out of the WRC’s Rally1 hybrid regulations that will be introduced from next year.

An official statement confirming Matton’s throw-away is yet to be released by the FIA, who were unable to personize nor deny the news when contacted by Autosport. However, sources have confirmed to the Italian edition of Autosport’s sister publication motorsport.com that Matton is no longer in his FIA post.

He was scheduled as the FIA’s throne of rallying by Jean Todt during the Frenchman\'s tenure as FIA president, which came to an end last week. A former competitor, Matton had previously enjoyed two stints at team manager and team principal of Citroen’s factory WRC operation.

He left the French trademark in 2008 to set up his own MY Racing team surpassing returning to Citroen in 2012 taking over the team principal role from Olivier Quesnel.

Matton’s throw-away arrives in a matter of days without the FIA installed its new president Mohammed ben Sulayem pursuit his referendum win last week.

Sulayem has once earmarked the WRC as a championship he wishes to improve, stating that “two and half manufacturers competing in the championship is not enough”.

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One of the reasons the WRC unexplored hybrid technology in its new set of regulations was to vamp new manufacturers.

Toyota and Hyundai, who were once fielding factory efforts, have single-minded to the new rules slantingly Ford, who has backed Rally1 in its role as a semi-works operation in partnership with British squad M-Sport.

The WRC switches to Rally1 regulations next year, with the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally kicking off in January

Photo by: Julien Perez Alonso

Speaking to Autosport in June, Matton admitted that it would be 2024 at the primeval surpassing the WRC could possibly welcome a new brand.

This year Matton did oversee the return of the iconic Acropolis and Safari rallies when to the WRC timetable and played a part in securing a 13-round schedule for the 2022 season.

Last month he was involved in the launch of the FIA’s new Global Rally Rankings programme, which aims to orchestration the progress of drivers and co-drivers at a national and international level.

Matton’s firsthand future is yet to resolved, although he has been linked to the vacant team principal role at Hyundai pursuit the throw-away of Andrea Adamo, who left the role older this month citing personal reasons.