• Four-times Dakar Rally winner says 'time has come for change' • Finn has received positive responses from FIA member clubs

The former world rally champion Ari Vatanen is considering standing against Max Mosley if the Briton seeks re-election as president of motorsport's world governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile.

"At the moment I am consulting the member clubs and am already seeing positive feedback," said the 57-year-old Finn, a four-times Dakar Rally winner. "I am considering standing. I think the time has come for a change. I would go for it, even if not sure of winning."

Mosley, 69, said last month that he would not seek a fifth four-year term of office in October as part of a deal with Formula One teams calling for a reform of the sport's governance and threatening a breakaway series.

The Briton has since accused the teams of "dancing on his grave" and suggested that he was under pressure from members of the Paris-based FIA to stay on. "I am under pressure now from all over the world to stand for re-election," said Mosley. "I do genuinely want to stop. But if there is going to be a big conflict with the car industry, for example with the Formula One Teams Association, then I won't stop."

Vatanen said Mosley had done a lot for motorsport, adding that he enjoyed a good relationship with him, but he felt there was a time when every organisation needed change.

Mosley has been a controversial figure in the FIA, most notably last year when he saw off calls for his resignation over a sado-masochistic sex scandal and then won a high court lawsuit for invasion of privacy.

The FIA president, whose organisation groups some 219 member clubs from 130 countries on five continents, has also worked hard to make motorsport safer while championing environmentally friendly technology.

Vatanen won the world rally championship in 1981, with the future Benetton and BAR Formula One team principal, David Richards, as his co-driver. The Finn was also a member of the European Parliament from 1999 until this year.

Other potential candidates for the position could include the former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt, the Frenchman widely seen as Mosley's preferred successor should the president decide to step down.