Lucchesi told the Assembly: “Thank you for appointing me. I will point all energies into this role and I will work in the interests of all of the FIA.”

Lucchesi went on to thank his predecessor Sebastiá Salvadó for his “wonderful and great work” in the role over the last 12 months. He said: “I will make every effort to carry on his project. Thanks to him we have an ambitious plan to realise and if we work together we’ll succeed.”

Salvadó, who is also President of the Reial Automobil Club de Catalunya, felt he had to step down from his FIA role because of the time constraints related to running one of the most successful national motoring clubs in the world. He told the Assembly: “Thank you for your support and understanding. I’m convinced Franco will do a great job. We are at a very important stage in the development of the mobility side of the FIA and it is important that the clubs continue to act in unison for both road safety and mobility.”

Lucchesi, a lawyer by trade, has all the attributes and experience necessary to carry on from Salvado’s lead. He was President of the Automobile Club of Florence for 16 years before becoming President of the ACI in 2001. He is in his second four-year mandate as ACI President, after being reelected in 2005 following a number of achievements in the role.

These achievements include the introduction in 2004 of a new law in Italy which gives each driver a certain amount of points that they have to preserve to avoid losing their licence. The law has already helped to decrease the number of accidents in the country.

He was also responsible for launching the annual Mo.Ve International Forum, a conference that deals with issues of sustainable mobility in modern cities. Lucchesi is president of the organising committee for the Forum, which took place in Venice on 8-9 November 2006 and represented his first official event since being elected to his new FIA role.

The conference deals mainly with finding solutions for problems in mobility, such as congestion charging in major cities. Lucchesi gave both the opening and closing speeches to this year’s Forum.