Tales from the Trip

Toyota Gazoo Racing. Cologne, Germany

Carlos Sainz Sr. The name is famous both on and off the track as Sainz junior is riding a prancing horse in Formula 1. In 1990, Sainz Sr. was crowned World Rally Champion driving for Toyota. He would take his second WRC title in 1992. The Cologne operation was then headed by ex-rally great Ove Andersson and was called Toyota Team Europe (TTE). Today, the Yaris model is the team’s lethal weapon in WRC and has captured the last four WRC titles with Ott Tänak, Sébastien Ogier. (‘20/21) and last year with Kalle Rovanperä.

Toyota was global sales leader in 2022 with over 10 million vehicles sold. It is a major player in the US market and well known for reliability. Their Lexus luxury division also set new standards for quality and customer satisfaction.

Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe is based in German city of Cologne and has an impressive collection of racing and rallying machines in its museum section. TGR-E is responsible for their very successful Le Mans/WEC and WRC activities.

I met their Communications Manager Thomas Heidbrink at Sebring in March where he helped to interview Team Manager Pascal Vasselon and Le Mans winner Jose Maria Lopez. Thomas invited me to their racing museum on my next trip to Germany. Such an invitation does not require ‘let me think about it’ on my part! And there I was on Toyota-Alle last month.

F1Weekly and myself are extremely thankful for this kind invitation from Thomas and also to Sebastian Klein for giving me a very detailed and informative tour of the facility. The most unbelievable and exciting part of the tour was being allowed in simulator room while Mike Conway, who has raced in Indy cars previously, was performing his simulator duties in preparation for the WEC round at Monza this weekend.

As a lifelong fan of motorsports, from what was back in the day the East African Safari Rally to Formula 1 Grand Prix, this was an incredible trip down memory lane. Truly living up to the famous Toyota commercial; ‘Oh, What a feeling!

Toyota Celica ST 185. This turbo-charged model took three different Toyota drivers to three successive WRC titles. In 1992, Carlos Sainz Sr won the Safari Rally on his way to the championship. The following year Juha Kankkunen did the same. In 1994, Didier Auriol took the WRC championship; his big win was the Tour de Corse.  

Bright & Beautiful. Proudly displaying the Japanese flag, a nice field of Le Mans racing cars grace the Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe Museum. Some of the earlier Le Mans cars were designed by Tony Southgate of F1 fame.

GT1. One of a kind. The FIA regulations for the 2010-2012 season called for minimum of one road going production model – this is Toyota’s version as designed by Andre de Cortanze.

GT1. The Racing one. Today’s well known TV commentator Martin Brundle put this car on pole position for the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hour race. He led but did not finish the race. The sister car of Ukyo Katayama was challenging for the lead when a flat tire denied a possible first victory at the famous race. The all-Japanese crew of Katayama, Keiichi Tsuchiya and Toshio Suzuki finished second.

Racing & managing. Kazuki Nakajima has been a Toyota man all his racing life. He raced in Formula 1 with a Toyota-powered Williams. His day of days came at Le Mans in 2018 when he won the French classic. He also won in 2019 with Fernando Alonso as one of his teammates. Kazuki went three-on-the-trot in 2020. Today, he is part of Toyota Gazoo Racing management and involved in mentoring young Japanese drivers.

‘Who could ask for anything more?’ This was definitely the highlight of my visit. Mike Conway was busy in the simulator when this photo was taken preparing for Monza WEC race this weekend.

The sound of motorsports. Racing is a beautiful business. Toyota has extensive involvement on a global scale – Japanese Super Formula, WEC, WRC, NASCAR & IMSA. Special Danke to Herr Klein for this wonderful opportunity.

Unfinished business. Toyota entered Formula 1 in 2002 with a Gustav Brunner designed car, TF101, and Mika Salo scored a point on its debut in Albert Park. The global financial crisis forced Toyota out of Formula 1 at the end of the 2009 season. The photo shows their 2010 car – which was designed, built but never raced.

–- Nasir Hameed.