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Its President faces possible deselection amid reports that he indulged in a Nazi-themed orgy with five prostitutes, but the governing body of world motorsport knows what really hurts its image: a driver who forgets to wash and shave.

There were howls of indignation yesterday when Sébastien Loeb, the world champion rally ace, was taken to task by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile.

Just before Max Mosley, the FIA chief, was exposed on film appearing to enjoy his exotic encounter, the head of its rally division endorsed a complaint over the unkempt appearance of Loeb, 34. The Alsace-born driver, world champion for the past four years and one of the biggest stars in rally history, has recently adopted longer hair and stubble. “The same thing happens in football and other virile sports. Of course such people are an insult to real men,” Morrie Chandler wrote in an e-mail, according to Le Figaro newspaper. He asked the FIA’s television body to limit the air time given to scruffy winners and avoid close-ups, to avoid bringing the sport into ill repute.

“How can one of its most senior figures criticise a driver for his appearance when President Mosley refuses to consider the sexual scandal in which he is implicated . . . to be damaging to the institution which he directs?” Le Figaro asked.

Alain Pernot, rally correspondent for Sport Auto magazine, called the attitude of the FIA ridiculous. “Sébastien Loeb does nothing that shocks good morals,” he said, alluding to Mr Mosley. Mr Chandler, a New Zealander, took up a complaint from Surinder Thatthi, the head of African motorsport, who was upset by Loeb’s appearance on the podium after winning the Mexico rally. “He is a hero and a model . . . He is going too far,” Mr Thatthi was quoted as saying.

Simon Long, the head of International Sportsworld Communications (ISC), which holds the FIA broadcast rights, disagreed with Mr Chandler, according to Le Figaro. He insisted that Loeb’s “handsome, tough look” attracted fans.

Mr Mosley’s fate will be decided by a secret ballot among the 222 voting members of the FIA at an extraordinary general assembly in Paris on June 3. The FIA headquarters in Paris declined to comment on the reported e-mail exchanges of its officers over the rally champion.