The men competed against eachother all across the globe in the WRC - even in South Africa where they were rivals in the Total Raillies of the day.

Todt rose to become Peugeot motorsport boss where Vatanen drove for him at the Dakar, before moving on to Toyota and then Ferrari where he presided over the great Schumacher-Brawn-Byrne era before leaving Maranello last year.

Vatanen continued in the driver's seat running in the Dakar as recently as three years ago alongside South Africa's Giniel de Villiers for Nissan. Ari has been a politician serving his native Finland and the EU since.

Today Vatanen and Todt are the main players in the upcoming FIA presidential election to replace the controversial Max Mosley in November, with Todt backed by Max for the job.

Todt confirmed he will stand for FIA president this week hours after Mosley endorsed him as his ideal replacement against former world rally champion Vatanen, who revealed his intentions last week.

"Following the decision of Max Mosley not to seek a further term of office and his unequivocal support of my candidacy, I have written to the FIA membership to inform them that I wish to stand for the presidency of the FIA," Todt revealed.

"It is my intention to continue and expand the outstanding work of President Mosley, who for 16 years has worked tirelessly to strengthen the FIA's major motorsport championships and to position the FIA as the voice of the motoring public, actively promoting safe, clean and affordable mobility for all.

Todt confirmed New Zealand Automobile Association boss Brian Gibbons would be his deputy president for mobility and UK Motor Sports Association Council chairman Graham Stoker as deputy president for sport with the current incumbent of that post Nick Craw as deputy president

Todt's bid to is likely to prove controversial in F1 where the teams would prefer an 'independent' candidate without previous links to any teams. Todt was also often slated for putting his former Ferrari team ahead of the needs of the sport...

Vatanen meanwhile is seen as the 'more neutral figure' F1 teams want.

"Responding to requests from many FIA member clubs, I shall stand for presidential elections of the FIA in October this year," flying Finn Vatanen and European MP, until earlier this year, pointed out.

"I think the time has come for a change — my main focus is to reconcile views within the FIA and bring transparency to its stakeholders. "The duty of President is to defend billion automobilists and the great sport of ours.

"I will reconciliate — the result is to be unified — simple as that. "We must not complicate things unnecessarily — it cannot be the state where personal ego trips, or the wins in power battles for glory or whatever, determines the future of our sport.

"Manufacturers can come and go which is true, but they only come and go if we as a regulator do not give them a sensible working environment.

"They are responsible for running their business correctly, and if it cannot be done in the sport — they will use the marketing money somewhere else.

"If the daily life within our sport is nothing but battles, as it has been recently, they have better things to do. So we must make sure that they stay in the sport." Vatanen has yet to announce his list of 22 FIA 'cabinet' members.

Either way, old rivals Todt and Vatanen now go head to head for the biggest job in motoring — it promises to be a most intriguing contest.

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