DIMO to host F1 President

On the invitation of Ceylon Motor Sports Club (CMSC) and on the occasion of its 75th anniversary, the current President of Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Jean Todt and his partner Michelle Yeoh will be in Sri Lanka for two days.

DIMO has come forward to sponsor his stay in Sri Lanka and will be arranging an exclusive dinner for the guests at Hilton Colombo. This exclusive dinner will be held on 21 December 2010 and is limited to 150 guests. Only few tickets will be made available for outsiders by CMSC.

As the general distributor for Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Sri Lanka, DIMO takes pride in representing the only luxury automobile brand that has the technological expertise to compete in Formula 1.

Currently Mercedes-Benz is associated with the Mercedes GP Petronas F1 team and also as a constructor with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. The legendary Michael Schumacher drives for Mercedes GP Petronas F1 team.

The new communication strategy of Mercedes-Benz revolves around ‘The best or nothing’ concept, coined by Gottlieb Daimler. Hence, sponsoring the first visit of a great sportsman and administrator of the calibre of Jean Todt is fitting for Mercedes-Benz.

“DIMO and Mercedes-Benz has always followed ‘the Best or nothing’, principle in our work ethic. We always strive to associate only the best and work to the best of our abilities, to provide the best solutions,” commented Chairman of DIMO Ranjith Pandithage.

FIA, is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) to represent the interests of motoring organizations and motor car users. To the general public, the FIA is mostly known as the governing body for many auto racing events, out of which Formula 1 is the most known. Headquartered at Paris, the FIA consists of 213 national member organizations in 125 countries worldwide, including Sri Lanka.

Jean Todt, 64, has been the president of the International Automobile Federation, the governing body of world motor sport and an umbrella organisation that combines 228 automobile clubs in 132 countries, since October 2009.

His entire career has been in automobile racing, with experience as a driver, and co-driver in rally racing until 1981, and after that as a manager in endurance, touring car, and open-wheel racing. He headed the Peugeot racing department, where his cars won the world rally title, the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, and the World Sports Car Championship.

Todt was hired in 1993 to clean up Italy’s venerable Ferrari team after 15 years of destructive internal politics. There, he built a dream team with Michael Schumacher driving that won the constructors’ title in 1999 and both the constructors’ and drivers’ titles from 2000 to 2004.