Toyota Takes Veil Off Formula One Race Car

Tokyo-TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC), in a huge step toward its 2002 Formula One debut, unveiled today its first ever F1 race car at the Paul Ricard Circuit in southern France. The car will be put through its paces at the French course and at official F1 circuits around the world by top-class drivers Mika Salo and Allan McNish.

At the core of TMC's drive to enter the F1 grid for the first time in March next year is its Cologne, Germany-based European racing headquarters, Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG), which designed and built both the engine and chassis of the Toyota F1 car. Over the next 11 months, in addition to conducting extensive tests at Paul Ricard, TMC's "home circuit" for development purposes, TMG will carry out circuit-data-collecting runs at 14 of the world's 17 official F1 venues.

Driver Salo, brimming with excitement over his role in testing the new machine, said:, "If looks are anything to go on, it will be very fast, but all the revolutionary stuff is underneath. Not only for Toyota, but for Formula One, it is important that we are competitive-Formula one needs another dominant team. Hopefully that will be Toyota. That is why I am here."