Half a Century of Passion, a Decade of Driving Excellence
 The
2007 season is a special one for Panasonic Toyota Racing as
the team has two significant milestones to celebrate. This
year marks 50 years since Toyota’s first foray into
motorsport so the start of the season has many in the paddock
looking back on five decades of international success.
But that is not the only anniversary of note. Among those
casting their eyes back to times past are race drivers Ralf
Schumacher and Jarno Trulli as they celebrate a decade since
their Formula 1 debuts in Australia in 1997.
Both drivers have played an important role in Toyota’s
50 years in motorsport, helping establish Panasonic Toyota
Racing in Formula 1 and move the team closer to its goal of
one day becoming World Champions.
Of course, the routes taken by Toyota, Ralf and Jarno to
the 2007 Australian Grand Prix were long and varied. For Toyota,
it all began in 1957 when a single Toyopet Crown was entered
into the Mobilgas Round Australia Rally, not only marking
Toyota’s first motorsport activity, but also the first
time a Japanese manufacturer had competed on the international
stage.
Kunio Kaminomura and Kojiro Kondo were charged with the momentous
task of navigating around Australia in 19 days over 10,563
miles. Little were they to know that they were blazing a trail
for Toyota success in the future.
Before the glory days of World Rally Championship triumphs,
Toyota found its feet in domestic racing and took three class
victories in the first Japanese Grand Prix, the birth of modern
motorsport in Japan.
 After
successful attempts at sportscar racing with the 2000GT and
Toyota 7 cars, including speed records and Can-Am victories,
Toyota’s focus turned again to rallying. The first success
came in 1974, a year notable for the birth of Jarno Trulli,
when Ove Andersson took a class win in the Rally of Portugal.
A year later Andersson Motorsport, and Ralf Schumacher, were
born. Three decades on and Schumacher is a driving force at
Panasonic Toyota Racing, a direct ancestor of Andersson Motorsport.
Ralf is just one of a number of highly talented drivers to
have worn Toyota overalls, a trend which began in earnest
in the 1980s when Hannu Mikkola and Juha Kankkunen won world
championship rallies.
Toyota’s potential was clear when Carlos Sainz took
the drivers’ world championship in 1990, just as in
the following years the potential of Ralf and Jarno began
to emerge in karting.
In 1993, when Ralf first drove a Formula 3 car, Toyota became
the first Japanese company to win the prestigious manufacturers’
world championship, with Kankkunen taking the drivers’
crown.
A year later Jarno won the inaugural Ayrton Senna Memorial
Cup to prove he was one of the top karters in the world. While
he was on the long road to the pinnacle of his profession,
Toyota was already there, emphasised by another world championship
double.
However, like Ralf and Jarno, Toyota was not standing still.
Ralf, as Formula Nippon champion, and Jarno, as German Formula
3 champion, made their Grand Prix debuts in Australia in 1997.
Jarno finished ninth for Minardi but Ralf’s Jordan gearbox
ended his race.
 They
were already establishing themselves in Formula 1 but for
Toyota that remained a dream, one which could be realised
only after Toyota Motorsport – previously Andersson
Motorsport –proved its potential in the gruelling Le
Mans 24 Hours.
Two attempts at the legendary French race brought mixed feelings.
The second-place champagne was sweet in 1999 but after mechanical
problems denied the lead GT-One a sure victory, it was tinged
with disappointment.
Nevertheless, that was enough for Toyota to commit to Formula
1, with a Grand Prix debut coming in 2002.
By that time, Ralf was a multiple Grand Prix winner after
graduating from Jordan to Williams in 1999, his breakthrough
triumph coming in San Marino in 2001. Jarno too was making
a name for himself and in 2002 he joined Renault after a long
spell at Prost.
Panasonic Toyota Racing made steady progress in those early
years in Formula 1, becoming regular points scorers after
a tentative first season. To make the breakthrough and become
regular podium challengers, however, the team called on two
established Formula 1 stars – Ralf and recent Monaco
winner Jarno – for 2005.
That paid immediate dividends when Jarno wrote his name in
Toyota’s motorsport history with the team’s first
Formula 1 podium, in Malaysia. More history followed for Jarno
with Toyota’s first pole position, at Indianapolis,
and Ralf also contributed, ending the season sixth in the
championship – the best yet for a Toyota driver.
Last season was disappointing as the team slipped from fourth
in the championship to sixth but, in a year of milestones,
the team and its two drivers are challenging to take the next
important steps in Toyota’s motorsport adventure.
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