Toyota | |
---|---|
Nationality | Japanese |
Established | 1937 |
Founder | Kiichiro Toyoda |
Headquarters | Tokyo City, Japan |
Noted drivers | Michael Sneath Vik Rune Dimitris Gkaras Roy Cop Kris Simton David Osborne Jake Black Nick Wu Ted Hough |
British Touring Car Championship Career | |
First entry | 1991 |
Races entered | 110 |
Teams championships | 0 |
Drivers championships | 0 |
Race victories | 15 |
Podiums | 62 |
Points | 1,983 |
Pole positions | 7 |
Fastest laps | 18 |
Last entry | 1994 British Touring Car Championship Round 10 |
Toyota is currently involved in British Touring Car Championship as a constructor, under the name of Toyota Castrol Team. They have been associated with BTCC since 1991.
History[]
1991[]
In 1991, Andy Rouse Engineering picked up the works contract to run the Toyota team. Toyota began the season with British driver Michael Sneath and Vik Rune from Yugoslavia. The first half of the season, Toyota were the team to beat picking up eight wins in the first thirteen races but following the sixth round at the Birmingham Superprix and the disqualification of Rune from the championship, form dipped. Dimitris Gkaras would replace Rune at selected rounds for the remainder of the 1991 season. The Nissan works team would overtake Toyota for the lead of the championship after the tenth meeting at Donington Park. Toyota finished the season in 2nd poisition with Sneath and Gkaras finishing 2nd and 15th respectively.
1992[]
Toyota, again run by Andy Rouse Engineering in 1992, made a huge statement by poaching 1991 champion Roy Cop to partner Sneath. Cop achieved 3 wins throughout the year with a further 17 podiums and totally dominated his teammate. Sneath only managed 2 podium finishes all season and was disappointed with his 1992 performance. Toyota finished 2nd once again in the championship, this time to Vauxhall, with Cop finishing 2nd in the drivers championship with Sneath down in 6th.
1993[]
TOM's were awarded the works contract for the Toyota team in 1993 after Andy Rouse Engineering left for Ford. Cop also left for Ford with Sneath leaving for Renault. With Kris Simton joining from Vauxhall, he carried the team on his back as the sole driver. Simton and Toyota got off to a great start with an impressive 2nd at the opening round at Silverstone. However, as the season progressed, Simton became unimpressed with the development of the new Carina and despite podiums at Oulton Park and Pembrey, the Carina fell down the performance pecking order. At the end of 1993, Simton finished 5th in the championship with Toyota finishing 4th, impressive considering they only used a single car.
1994[]
Simton left Toyota for Alfa Romeo. David Osborne brought his Castrol sponsorship from Nissan and was partnered by Croatian driver Tom Cinchy who had impressed during his short time at Peugeot towards the end of 1993.
Complete British Touring Car Championship results[]
(Key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Team Name | Car | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | Points | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Kaliber ICS Team Toyota | Carina II | Michael Sneath | 5 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 805 | 2nd |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
4 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1992 | Team Securicor ICS Toyota | Carina II | Roy Cop | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | RET | 5 | 2 | C | 4 | 3 | 2 | 602 | 2nd | ||||
5 | 3 | 8 | 4 | RET | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | C | 6 | 5 | 7 | ||||||||||||
1993 | Team Securicor Toyota | Carina E | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | RET | 6 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | RET | 8 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 285 | 4th | ||||
1994 | Toyota Castrol Team | Toyota Carina E | David Osborne | 13 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 7 | C | C | C | RET | RET | RET | DNS | DNS | 291 | 5th | |||||||||||||||||
Jake Black | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Nick Wu | 5 | RET | DNS | 6 | 6 | DSQ |