LONDON (Reuters) -- Kenyan Shekhar Mehta, five-time winner of the Safari Rally and president of the FIA's world rally championship commission, has died aged 60.

Mehta, who won a record five Safari titles in a Datsun between 1973 and 1982, returned to the helm of the body overseeing the world championship only last month after French federation head Jacques Regis stood down.

Kenya's Safari Rally ceased to be a world championship event in 2002. The FIA extended its condolences in a statement on Wednesday.