Toyota’s WRC project, are you OK?

Please allow me to pull out the basic facts, or at least what looks like facts, about Toyota’s WRC programme. According to Autosport, Toyota is now going to switch to another team and another team boss for their return to the World Rally Championship, but at the same time, their (Toyota’s) Cologne based Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) will continue working on their (own?) project involving Yaris WRC.

What?

Exactly. The way I understand it, TMG will continue working on the car, but at the same time, Toyota’s main (?) WRC project will switch to another team, led by former World Champion, Tommi Makinen. I’ve precisely zero idea how this will work out; will Makinen be working on the same car as the TMG, or is he going to start from the scratch? The way Autosport worded it, or rather, the way I understood it, is seems that Tommi and Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda are buddies, ever since Tommi built a car for Akio and Akio loved it ever so much.

The news of Makinen’s new position is expected to come from Gazoo Racing – TMC’s motorsport arm in Japan – but the programme is still set to have a European base., says Autosport.

I do like a bit of drama and some politics now or then, especially if the new team, apparently, does not have anything else to share with us at the moment, but this sounds a bit odd. Or is it, maybe, just a part of the normal business, picking the most optimal solutions and working to maximize resources and performance? The news of TMG’s Yaris WRC development slowed down recently, is the project on hold or on ice even? And what about that GT86 CS-R3 deliveries being postponed? Did that play any role in this alleged switch of development for the main WRC project? Dem questions!

Either way, the taste is mildly bitter.

Full Autosport article here.