Toyota announces WRC plans

[AndyRAC]

It's almost as if Makinen & Akio are on an ego trip to prove they can do a better job than TMG in Cologne.

[N.O.T]

Jukhi smells money and his most loyal dog also... it has been long time since he fed one of his nobodies to the sport.

Taking control of a whole team is far more beneficial.

2 years maximum then a nice flop.

[Mirek]

It's almost as if Makinen & Akio are on an ego trip to prove they can do a better job than TMG in Cologne.

Frankly the recent rally attempts of TMG Yaris R1 and FT-86 R3 have turned into a fail, so...

[makinen_fan]

Frankly the recent rally attempts of TMG Yaris R1 and FT-86 R3 have turned into a fail, so...

Plus their F1 and WEC projects are not that successful. Hopefully this will not turn to be a new 'Suzuki' effort

[dimviii]

Wilson could do this job.Fast,reliable,and quaranteeded results.Even cheaper imho.

[Eli]

http://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/july/...9--12-12-.html

[AndyRAC]

Plus their F1 and WEC projects are not that successful. Hopefully this will not turn to be a new 'Suzuki' effort

Er, they're the reigning WEC Champions.....how is that not successful? They are however, having a bad defence of their Titles.

[Rally Power]

It's almost as if Makinen & Akio are on an ego trip to prove they can do a better job than TMG in Cologne.

Why are hardcore rally fans so reluctant to see a passionate CEO giving a chance to a multiple world rally champion in order to generate a rally structure able to win in WRC and produce cars for privateers?

Ok, Makinen hit a million dollars jackpot in a lucky way, but why can't people believe he’ll deliver?

Because he’s in remote Finland…weren’t the Italians, located in the south extreme of Europe, the dominance force of rally during so many years?

Because he hasn’t organization skills…weren’t TMR Gr.N Imprezas able to broke Prodrive hegemony and sell well around the world?

Because TMG has already the capacity to do it…weren’t they unable to win in F1 and Le Mans?

For sure it’s strange for outsiders, like most of us, to see all the ups and downs of this project, but seeing it revised with such a passion and commitment makes one believe that easily there will be the competence and the efficacy to make it successful.

Best wishes to the Totoya Gazoo WRC Team!

[br21]

In my opinion team will be based around Jyaskyla and based mostly on TMR team, I mean Tommi will build team he likes to have. So they will need a lot of people, as money is not a problem and Toyota really wants good results from the beginning. Japanese people are really disappointed by current TMG work - their Yaris is not that good, their recent rally projects like GT86 R3 are bad and their racing record is not that good either.

[dimviii]

WRC » New Toyota boss Makinen looks to bin Yaris project 9 July 2015
New Toyota team principal Tommi Makinen says he could make large scale changes by scrapping development of the Yaris World Rally car

New Toyota team principal Tommi Makinen says he could make large scale changes by scrapping the development of the Yaris World Rally car and opting for a new model for the team's highly anticipated return to the WRC in 2017.

The four-time world rally champion was announced as the new team boss at Toyota earlier this week and after making initial introductions he explained to German-based Toyota Motorsport (TMG) that he wants to take a hands-on approach and may halt the Yaris development altogether.

Current test drivers Sebastian Lindholm and Stephane Sarrazin have been working on the Yaris World Rally car since January and were joined by new development drivers Eric Camilli and Teemu Suninen who recently signed with TMG.

However, according to wrc.com Makinen is already assessing whether the Yaris machine is the right direction for Toyota or whether they should start again with a new car.

“Even though we will need to have a proper test driver, I think it will be good if I drive too,” Makinen told wrc.com.“There are some ideas that I have which might be able to help and in any case it is good to get inputs and opinions from as many people as possible.”

Makinen has some experience of running a rally team as he set up his own squad which competes in his home country of Finland after he retired from driving. The 51-year-old claimed 24 WRC event victories in his career on his way to four consecutive WRC titles between 1996-1999.

“We have a huge amount of work between now and 2017 to test the car in every circumstance - snow, gravel, high altitude, low altitude. We will need to test everywhere in the world,” he explained. “Since I stopped driving I have had my own team – Tommi Mäkinen Racing – which has been preparing Group N cars for quite a while, so I have experience of running a team.

“But of course the challenge is bigger this time and there is a lot more responsibility and things to do.”


http://www.crash.net/wrc/news/220911...m_campaign=rss