Latest FIA departure as road sport director Andrew Wheatley leaves position

FIA road sport director Andrew Wheatley has left his position at the governing body, Motorsport.com understands.

Wheatley’s sudden departure comes in the wake of several personnel changes and upheaval at the FIA in recent weeks. The details regarding his exit are yet to be made clear.

The former M-Sport employee joined the FIA in 2019 as the WRC category manager before earning promotion to the rally director role in 2022.

This came as former Citroen WRC boss Yves Matton left the position in December 2021, after playing an instrumental role in ushering in the WRC’s Rally1 regulations launched in 2022.

Wheatley’s role morphed into the road sport director position this year.

This latest departure follows a number of high-profile exits from the FIA, following last week’s exits of Formula 2 race director Janette Tan and long-time FIA race steward Tim Mayer.

Last month Formula 1 race director Neils Wittich also left the organisation, and in October the governing body parted ways with director of communications Luke Skipper and secretary general of mobility Jacob Bangsgaard.

Late last year both sporting director Steve Nielsen and single-seater technical director Tim Goss resigned, while head of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission Deborah Mayer also left. The FIA’s first CEO Natalie Robyn also quit the organisation in May after less than two years in the role.

Prior to joining the FIA, Wheatley worked in the Belgian and Polish rally championships. He took up a business development role at British rally squad M-Sport in 2005, after joining the company in 1999.

It was in this position that Wheatley was involved in M-Sport’s S2000, R2 and R5 programmes alongside its racing projects with Bentley in GT3 racing and the now defunct Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy.

Wheatley has been ever-present at WRC rounds, overseeing the category, and has been heavily involved in helping the discipline forge its future pathway this year, including the formation of the 2027 regulations, due to be released at next week’s World Motor Sport Council. The rally veteran was also part of the FIA’s WRC Commission.

It is unclear who will fill the position moving into 2025.