Toyota announces WRC plans

[DonJippo]

but somehow an unproven, untested nobody driver he manages got in the toyota team... hmmmm

Isn't it the whole purpose of being a manager to get a contract for your driver? Why it is so bad if your name happens to be Jouhki? And if you would have paid attention you might have noticed that the deal is with TMG not with Toyota.

[janvanvurpa]

Isn't it the whole purpose of being a manager to get a contract for your driver? Why it is so bad if your name happens to be Jouhki? And if you would have paid attention you might have noticed that the deal is with TMG not with Toyota.

Why mess up the discussion with simple facts and reality? If you stick to simple facts like "what is the point of a manager" then how can poor little NOT continue to sit in his basement lab and seethe with jealousy and rage in frustration? It is important to him to sit in his basement lab and seethe with jealousy and rage in frustration...

And you come and calmly explain simple things he has no clue about and you can ruin everything he has accomplished in rally..
ei ei ei, bad Finn, you go to bed and no Kossu for you tonight.

[Lundefaret]

Tommi Mäkkinen as the manager of Toyotas return to WRC will be very good.
Tommi is thé driver with the best head for set up that WRC has ever seen. His philosophy is very correct, and this personal experience will be very important (something TMG would never have been able to produce.)
Tommi has also had great positive effect on other drivers, especially Petter Solberg, who owns a part of his WRC title to Tommi.
I have really high hopes for this, off cource it will be down to many factors (engineers, drivers, budget etc), but all inn all it could come very good indeed - good luck!

[giù tutto!]

Eh, when the testing and set up of the rally car has been the job of team principal? In organization like WRC team there is couple of other things to do for a team principal, if the target is properly working team.

As seen on other newcomer teams (VW, Hyundai) it is possible to build up winning car without such a personal experienced ex-driver as a team principal and car developer.

A team is only as strong as its weakest link.

[OldF]

Of course it’s not the task for a team principal to set up the car for the drivers (whoever they will be) when the team is up and running but I think he can give his experience and opinions when the car is developed and before it’s homologated. After homologation there’s not much to do if something is basically wrong.

[Simmi]

It's really just dawning on me that TMG have been testing a WRC car intensively all over Europe for 16 months - for absolutely nothing.

I did think back at the start of last year it all seemed a bit extreme ahead of 2017. Now it just seems utterly ludicrous. From what I can see all TMG will do on this new project is engine development work (confirmed by Tommi in Motorsport News). But for 2017 we have the different restrictor - more power, more torque. None of the drivers have contracts with Toyota Gazoo. I doubt any of the crew do either. It seems like the only hired 'official' people so far are Tommi and likely George Donaldson.

It just does not make one jot of sense and we're left with what looks like a well sorted, heavily tested, stillborn WRC car. Is there any chance at all that TMG could enter it into some rallies next year off their own back? Otherwise it will just be a Cologne museum piece, parked next to the TF110 which never raced, but was apparently going to be a Grand Prix winner.

[Lundefaret]

It's really just dawning on me that TMG have been testing a WRC car intensively all over Europe for 16 months - for absolutely nothing.

I did think back at the start of last year it all seemed a bit extreme ahead of 2017. Now it just seems utterly ludicrous. From what I can see all TMG will do on this new project is engine development work (confirmed by Tommi in Motorsport News). But for 2017 we have the different restrictor - more power, more torque. None of the drivers have contracts with Toyota Gazoo. I doubt any of the crew do either. It seems like the only hired 'official' people so far are Tommi and likely George Donaldson.

It just does not make one jot of sense and we're left with what looks like a well sorted, heavily tested, stillborn WRC car. Is there any chance at all that TMG could enter it into some rallies next year off their own back? Otherwise it will just be a Cologne museum piece, parked next to the TF110 which never raced, but was apparently going to be a Grand Prix winner.

TMG has previously stated that they have done this as a solo project with possibilities for selling to privateer teams. TMG is owned by Toyota, but is run very independently (like other Toyota-owned companies), and Mr. Toyoda has been very outspoken when it comes to him disliking the decissions TMG has made regarding the WRC-project.

And no, it is not an absolute need for a team manager to be able to test rally cars, but when You have a so brilliant "rally-head" as Tommi Mäkkinen, it is off cource a great benefit. He could be of real help to the engineers and the drivers.

Jost Capito is off cource a very good team manager, but its clearly he has some short comings regarding the management of drivers. Ogier is the best, near perfect, but Mikkelsen and Latvala has not showed more improvement than should be expected, and Capito has not had any answers when it comes to turning Latvalas fait from crash to victories - the drivers seems very much left to their own (and their own management). In a different sport, the team manager would have taken a much more pro active role in developing the athletes, hiring the right driver coaches, mental coaches etc, but in this aspect rallying as a whole has ha long way to go.
And if You want to beat Ogier, You have to start walking that route, or else it will be another 9 WRC titles by a French Seb...

[Mariusz]

Why would Jost Capito want to have more fighting between his drivers? I'd say his goal is to win manufacturers championship and to have all three drivers in the top 3 at the end of season. Making Mikkelsen and Latvala better he's risking that Ogier can start making more mistakes and losing manufacturer points. And when Ogier starts seeing that he's not crushing everybody like in the last 2 years he might start thinking about switching to a different car.

[vkangas]

For me it seems pretty obvious (based on public info) that the performance of TMG's WRC Yaris has been carefully evaluated and Toyota is not happy with it. It might be ok but their target in the future is of course to beat VW.

As Mirek pointed out TMG's recent projects have not been huge successes so perfectly right thing to do is to try something completely new. I have no contacts to TMG but for me it seems that it's a little bit old-school R&D unit full of middle-aged men (after F1 project was ended). Why else would they say publicly that now they want to buid a young team and attract new talents etc.

The one thing I fear is that Tommi sets up Toyota's operations to Finland even if it's not an optimal solution. The whole thing is perfectly doable from Finland but it's really a serious effort (+money) that is needed to attract the best engineering talents from other WRC (+F1 etc) teams from Central Europe.

[Simmi]

I have no contacts to TMG but for me it seems that it's a little bit old-school R&D unit full of middle-aged men (after F1 project was ended). Why else would they say publicly that now they want to build a young team and attract new talents etc.

Maybe check out this great piece on TMG headquarters and the wealth of facilities they have. Say what you want about TMG's projects, but there is no chance that Tommi will be able to put together a factory which comes in any way close to this.

http://www.speedhunters.com/2014/09/...torsport-tour/

Have to admit I hadn't seen any reports of TMG looking to sell the Yaris WRC to privateers. Surely the window for that happening is closing fast.