Todt emerges Mosley successor

"Jean Todt has been elected president of the FIA for a four-year term by the FIA General Assembly at its annual meeting in Paris," an FIA statement said.

The 63-year-old Frenchman won 135 votes to 49 for Vatanen, the former world rally champion who was his sole rival for the most powerful position in world motorsport. There were 12 abstentions.

"It's positive, very positive," retired F1 champion Michael Schumacher, who won five of his seven titles with Todt at the Italian glamour team, told reporters.

Todt had been backed throughout an increasingly acrimonious campaign by Mosley, who will remain in the FIA senate, and had also received support from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Vatanen, a former European parliamentarian, stood on a platform of change and transparent governance to make a clean break from the controversial Mosley era.

Mosley had been FIA president since he ousted Frenchman Jean-Marie Balestre in 1993. Formula One teams, who had clashed repeatedly with Mosley earlier in the year while threatening a breakaway series, welcomed Todt’s appointment.