03/11/2010
NEWS STORY
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Mat Coch writes:
Reports last week that Toyota Motorsport Group had been bought by Hispania Racing Team are wide of the mark, according to sources in Cologne.
Announced in the German press, it was suggested HRT had taken ownership of the facilities, equipment and expertise of the former Toyota Formula One team, though no further detail of a deal has emerged.
Since the story broke conspiracy theorists have been hard at work, suggesting Toyota wouldn't release the 2010 spec TF110 to Pirelli for tyre testing as they instead hoped to sell the car to HRT. Such suggestions are simply not the case, our source assures us, describing the reports as 'imaginative' at best.
A known and reliable package, the 2009 spec TF109 car was provided to Pirelli with a complete inventory of spares. It was a logical move given the kilometres the Italian company will cover as it develops the tyres all Formula One teams will use in 2011.
By contrast the TF110 doesn't, and never has had, a complete spares package. Even when Stefan GP attempted to bully its way onto the 2010 grid after the failure of USF1 there was no spares package for the car. Indeed, there was little reason for Toyota to produce a full inventory once the company pulled the plug on their involvement with the sport last November.
Ever since then the TF110 has been the subject speculation, much of it surrounding HRT, who were believed to be keen on the car as a basis for their own 2011 contender. Jose Ramon Carabante, owner of HRT, claimed to have been close to a deal with Toyota, though there has been no word from the team since July.
As it stands Toyota Motorsport Group, we're reliably informed, will not be sold, and the TF110 cars will remain unused. TF110 chassis number two sits in the Toyota Motorsport Group's foyer in Cologne, bereft of paint, a reminder of the company's involvement in the sport's premier class. Chassis number one is in the museum, stickered up in 'Serbian Red'. There are no plans to move either car any time soon.
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