Jan Šťovíček, president of the FIA’s Czech motorsports authority and a member of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, doesn’t agree with the federation lifting the restrictions on Russian and Belarusian drivers. However, as he told Deník, “one Czech vote will not do much” when the council has 27 people.

“Unfortunately, I cannot disclose the exact result of the secret ballot and the positions of the individual members of the World Motorsport Council,” he admitted. “We are bound by confidentiality in this regard.”

Šťovíček, the head of the Autoklub České republiky, is the highest official to speak out against the FIA’s decision in early August. The Automobile Federation of Ukraine has filed an appeal while the Latvian Automobile Federation confirmed it will continue to enforce the ban in accordance with ASN policy.

While the lifting means drivers from Russia and Belarus and compete in FIA-sanctioned international races, those at the national level are subject to domestic policies. Šťovíček said the Czech Republic will still bar such drivers.

“Like in many other EU countries, national legislation applies here, which takes precedence over decisions of international sports federations,” Šťovíček explained. “It does not allow the participation of Russians and Belarusians in competitions in the Czech Republic. Therefore, these athletes cannot compete in competitions under our umbrella.”

Šťovíček noted this applies to France as well. Although the Dakar Rally is held in Saudi Arabia, the ASO is a French company and thus follow local laws. He doubts KAMAZ-master and MAZ-SPORTauto will be able to take part as a result, though chances of their presence were already low because of sanctions on their parent companies. KAMAZ and MAZ are respectively owned by the Russian and Belarusian states, the latter’s rally team such a loyalist to the Lukashenko government that everybody joined the ruling party in April.

MAZ had already been booted from the 2022 Dakar, a month before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, because the Minsk Automobile Plant was under EU sanctions related to the 2020 Belarusian election crackdown on protesters. KAMAZ won that race before getting exiled from the global rally scene as the Russian military’s main truck supplier.

In May, the Taklimakan Rally in China began permitting Russian competitors like KAMAZ again. The Chinese Automobile & Motorcycle Federation used to follow the FIA’s policy, but joined ASNs like the UAE’s Emirates Motorsports Organization in dictating its own rules for national races by allowing them back.

Despite the backlash from European countries, the FIA has not shown any sign of changing its mind. Meanwhile, the Russian Automobile Federation is taking advantage of its newly-granted freedom by setting up regional branches in occupied Crimea, Donetsk, Sevastopol, and Zaporizhzhia, which Šťovíček confirmed is a violation of FIA regulations.

“However, according to Šťovíček, the FIA has not yet had time to discuss this subject,” Deník wrote.

Featured image credit: MAZ-SPORTauto