Quote Originally Posted by stefanvv View Post
what do You think of the challenge in terms of logistics and international team based in Finland? we all know Makkinen is excellent driver, and probably will be good as wrc team manager, but it'll work more "globally"?
Team base in Finland:

Pros:
- Can become very a tight nit group
- A lot of local rally knowledge
- A lot of test roads
- Many very clever Finns in computer industry (Nokia and others)
- Tommi (team manager) is on home soil, and whiten comfort zone
- Good local production of specialized parts (Nokia and more)

Cons:
- Can be difficult to attract foreigners
- Most locals speak poor English
- Further to go travel most rallies and tests outside Finland
- Difficult if there is a change of team manager in the future (less options if not successful)

But, a WRC effort is European no matter where You build You base.
Both the test team and the WRC team proper is on the road most of the year, and they do a lot of km ´s, so I personally don't think its travel distance that is the deciding factor.
To be able to have some very good test roads out the back door can be a huge benefit, that is an enormous luxury not common with European based teams. So the total km´s traveled including "day-to-day" testing can actually be quit similar if one takes this in to account. The important factor here is to find roads with different characters, and on both gravel, snow and tarmac.

Going with the gut feeling, I would suggest placing the team in Finland.
Going with a more objective frame of mind it would be strange not to use the TMG facilities.
A compromise would be to have the main base in Europe, and a satellite base in Finland.

What do I think will happen?
Toyoda has said that this is not going to be run from TMG, but from his own Gazoo Racing. Gazoo Racing Europe will be a "new" company, and I interpret that as this effort will be built from scratch. Japan, Europe, Finland? My best guess of right now is actually that it will be based in Finland, but I would like to hear more qualified guesses

What do You think StefanVV?