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Toyota quits Formula One

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Thursday, November 5, 2009

Toyota headquarters in Japan

Akio Toyoda, the President and Representative Director of Toyota, made a statement on Wednesday that the company is leaving the Formula One championship before the 2010 season. The primary factor behind this decision was said to be the current economic environment in the midterm perspective.

Panasonic Toyota Racing did not manage to ever win a Formula One race, winning only 13 podium and 278.5 points since 2002. Toyota will still be present in a number of racing series, including Formula Nippon, Formula Three, Super GT and NASCAR.

Kamui Kobayashi driving Toyota TF109 at 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Image: Yuriy Lapitskiy.

Another major Japanese automotive giant, Honda, quit Formula One prior to this season and sold the team to Ross Brawn. The renewed team Brawn GP with Mercedes-Benz engined cars won the 2009 Constructors' Championship recently.

Other Japanese companies Subaru and Suzuki withdrew from the World Rally Championship prior to this season and Kawasaki pulled out of MotoGP.

The space cleared by Toyota may be now used by the BMW Sauber team's possible successor if BMW can reach an agreement to sell the team after their decision to quit Formula One earlier this year. Toyota drivers of this season Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, as well as the Japanese rookie driver Kamui Kobayashi, could now look for seats in other teams for 2010 including the new entries US F1, Campos, Manor or Lotus.


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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

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Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License


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