Toyota Unveil 2002 Car in Cologne (Updated)

Panasonic Toyota Racing became on Monday the first Formula One team to unveil their car for the 2002 season, in a ceremony held at their factory in Cologne, Germany.

The Japanese team, who have carried out an intensive testing programme in 2001 with their drivers Allan McNish and Mika Salo, will make their Grand Prix racing debut at next year's Australian Grand Prix, becoming the fourth team to build their own chassis and engines alongside Ferrari, Renault and Jaguar.

The Michelin-shod Toyota chassis, the TF102, has been designed by a team led by Chief Designer Gustav Brunner, who joined Toyota in May, and overseen by Technical Manager of the chassis department, Dago Röhrer.

Tsutomu Tomita, Chairman of Toyota Motorsport and Managing Director of Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan, said: "We are extremely pleased to make Toyota's first ever race car debut today. Though we have only just climbed over one of many hurdles we will face during our F1 challenge, we want to share the joy and excitement of the completion of the car with all of our partners and Toyota members."

"We are committed to challenging in F1 with determination. Through our endeavour, we wish to convey the excitement of Formula One races to the fans around the globe."

Toyota Motorsport President Ove Andersson is under no illusions for their first season in Formula One, and admitted that the team aim for respectability.

"I think our main target for next year will be to learn, and to try to gain respect within the F1 paddock," says Andersson. "We want to be a team that at the end of next year everybody will say, 'They came, and we think they did a reasonable job.' That's my target for the first year."

Toyota delayed their entry into Formula One by a year at the end of 2000 and recruited Austrian Gustav Brunner this year from Minardi as technical director after it became clear that the prototype car was uncompetitive.

Brunner said the TF102 was a completely different car from the prototype, which appeared to be as much as five seconds off the pace at test circuits in 2001.

"There is nothing left from the old car," he said. "We started on June 1 from a clean sheet. Every nut, every bolt is new. The old car was a little too heavy and already out of date."

Toyota will test with the new TF102, initially at Circuit Paul Ricard, as soon as the test ban ends in January. The team also plan to participate in a joint test scheduled in Barcelona, where they will have their very first run with other teams.

The team said that they are also in the process of finding test drivers to support McNish and Salo.