Three of world rallying's leading team bosses paid tribute to outgoing FIA president Max Mosley during the press conference that preceded this weekend's WRC round in Argentina, but not all agre🦂ed that he had been as good for the sport as he may have been for other areas under his control.

While Subaru's David Lapworth and Ford's Malcolm Wilson both chose to focus on recent dealings with the president, Peugeot counterpart Corrado Provera claimed that, despite all of Mosley's good intentions, he may not have had quit﷽e as good a grasp of the needs of rallying.

"Max Mosley has always been - and still is - a very, very good president," Provera insisted, "He has driven our sport to success but, in my opinion - and people will quote me, although I'm not sure in the right manner - I think he is 🍎a very big expert in F1 and d🦩oesn't understand many things about rally.

"He i🌊s still convinced that this sport is important and he ⛄is trying to boost it, [but] the problem is that he is trying to reach the target in the same way he did in F1 - and he doesn't, in my opinion, know rallies. So he had to trust people surrounding him, who believe they know rally better than the president and the situation which we are in is a consequence of it."

Both Lapworth and Wilson said that they believed progress had been made in the latest meetings with Mosley - who has presided over several controversial changes to the structure of the WRC, including the introduction of SupeRally, the addition of extra 🌱rounds to the schedule an෴d the imposition of a limit on previous winners driving for each team. Both reckoned that the future of rallying on an international scale was back on track.

"The reality is that we are making great progress," Lapworth insisted, "As Corrado touched on, we had a bit of a bad spell at the end of last year, when we were struggling to finꦺd a direction for the championship, but we have had some very positive meetings, and I am sure that, before Max leaves, we will have got ourselves a good direction and can look forward to a period of stability."

"I've seen a big difference in the🐓 way he's been keen to work with us, which is a very positive thing," Wilson added, "We have been working to come up w𝕴ith a solution which will bring long-term stability and so, from that side, being totally selfish, I hope he addresses those issues before he leaves office."

Asked what they wish🅺ed for in terms of Mosley's successor, all three agreed that the position would be hard to fill.

"The main thing is to see our sport being run as professional🎶, with steady regulations and common sense prevailing in all decisions and a democratic discussion between the manufacturers, the organisers and the sport powers," Provera explained, "If this [happens], then I think rally may still have beautiful days.

"The only thing we hope for is that our sport is given in the professional hands. We need people to understand 💛why we are racing and what our commercial interests are worldwide. To do this we need stability, visibility and promotability. We need easy access ♎to the journalists to make it easy to make readable events."

"It is goin𒈔g to be a very difficult role to fill, and we shouldn't underestimate that task," Wilson confirmed, "The one thing Max was, was a leader. It's not just motorsport, it's all the NCAP stuff as well. It's a job for two or maybe three people - one for Formula One, one for rally and one for the NCAP. It's going to be a very difficult role to fill."

Lapworth seized the opportunity to pu🐷t forward one sugges🐈tion, potentially easing his own job at Subaru.

"I think Corrado would do a fantastic jobꦉ," he grinned, "If I was a member of World Council, he would get my vote!"