Toyota announces WRC plans

[giù tutto!]

WTF is going on?!? In Finnish media there is interview of Tommi Makinen, which says he is searching for design team to develop the new Toyota WRC-car for the 2017 rules and he is building up the organisation for the WRC-team based in Finland?? Ok, I have read the news about he will be the team boss of Toyota, but what happened to TMG?

[AMSS]

I agree it seems really messy at the moment, I seriously hope the actual team will be based in Cologne with all development being taken care of there as well, otherwise I fear it will not end well... But let`s wait and see how it developes. Toyota should be a serious works team and a direct works team. As we all can see with VW that`s what brings results. That`s the only solution, I don`t doubt Tommi being a good team manager but he should be in a similar position as Jost Capito and not build something ran outside Cologne..
But so far lots of stuff can be media misinterpretation as well

[AL14]

Journalists are doing a very bad job. They're writing their articles like everything is clear but it is not.
If they were proper journalists they should have the same doubts we have about this and try to explain them in their article.
If it isn't possible to have more informations then they should end their titles and their post with a question mark, not an exclamation mark.

As always time will tell. Or Toyoda has fallen in love with Makinen or there will be soon a clearer explanation.

[Miika]

More of Tommi´s comments in the local newspaper Keskisuomalainen:
http://www.ksml.fi/urheilu/uutiset/l...-lupaa/2083013

In brief, according to Tommi "the main responsibility has been given to Tommi Mäkinen Racing", they will "design and build the WRC car as well as R2- and R5 cars." They haven´t decided the location yet, there are several possibilities for it in Finland as well as elsewhere. Co-operation with TMG in Cologne is possible but it won´t be their home base, says Tommi.

[EightGear]

Lol, what a mess.

Good to see they're planning R2 and R5 cars as well though.

[Miika]

But a beautiful mess. Give them an open chequebook and they will run it from the Moon if necessary.

[AndyRAC]

But a beautiful mess. Give them an open chequebook and they will run it from the Moon if necessary.

It is a right mess. Not only that, but they don't have an open cheque book; since the F1 disaster, they've been careful with their cash.

At the moment, I'm not expecting great things; why would you not use Cologne? And go to an unproven team?

[AMSS]

It is a right mess. Not only that, but they don't have an open cheque book; since the F1 disaster, they've been careful with their cash.

At the moment, I'm not expecting great things; why would you not use Cologne? And go to an unproven team?

I completely agree, I was hoping for a serious contender to VW but if it's taken out of Cologne and starting from scratch it will at best be another Hyundai effort.. not at all what I was hoping for.
This link and also the other story(toyota where are you going?) on the right sums it all up.
http://www.totalwrc.com/details/view...t_mention_TMG/

[N.O.T]

I think it is a classic japanese project driven by autism... some people will get good money for 2-3 years then the project will flop.

[RS]

More of Tommi´s comments in the local newspaper Keskisuomalainen:
http://www.ksml.fi/urheilu/uutiset/l...-lupaa/2083013

In brief, according to Tommi "the main responsibility has been given to Tommi Mäkinen Racing", they will "design and build the WRC car as well as R2- and R5 cars." They haven´t decided the location yet, there are several possibilities for it in Finland as well as elsewhere. Co-operation with TMG in Cologne is possible but it won´t be their home base, says Tommi.

So what happened to the current Yaris WRC? Was it not good enough?