Toyota Motorsport - Management

Tsutomu Tomita Chairman and Team Principal

Career to date: Tomita started his career with Toyota in 1969 as an engine development engineer. In 1987, he took control of all Toyota racing engines including Le Mans V8 and V10 engines and those for the World Rally Championship. In 1996, he became a member of Toyota Board of Directors. During his time as a board member, he was responsible for all international Toyota Motorsport activities and was the driving force behind Toyota's
decision to enter Formula 1. His belief in the global appeal of F1 helped fuel Toyota's drive to form a complete F1 team making both chassis and engine from scratch at its European motorsports arm, Toyota Motorsport GmbH in Cologne. Midway through the 2003 season, Panasonic Toyota Racing's second season in F1, Tomita moved to the Toyota Motorsport factory to spearhead Toyota's F1 activities on site. From 1 January 2004, Tomita became Team Principal of the Panasonic Toyota Racing team, further to his existing role as Chairman of Toyota Motorsport GmbH, a position that will see him oversee all activities at the track during the racing season.

Mission: "My dual role as Chairman and Team Principal means that, alongside team President John Howett, I will manage both the company's activities in Cologne and our work at the race track. With the invaluable experience and support of Ove Andersson, who has taken up an advisory role to the team, it is my mission to develop the Panasonic Toyota Racing team into one of Formula 1's leading teams as soon as feasibly possible."


John Howett President

Career to date: Englishman John Howett graduated with distinction from the Loughborough College of Technology in 1973 and has over 25 years experience with Toyota. Howett spent 3 years working for Toyota Team Europe, co-ordinating the rally team's service and preparation operations alongside Ove Andersson in the late 1970s. He returned to Toyota (GB) Ltd. in 1980, where he was involved in every aspect of after-sales service until 1991. Howett then moved to Belgium to broaden his horizons in the Service/After-Sales Operations at Toyota Motor Marketing Europe (TMME), heading several positions in the Marketing Division, supervising Product Management, Research, and Brand, before being appointed to Vice-President for Toyota/Lexus Sales & Marketing in January 2001. One year later, he took over the role of Vice-President in charge of all after-sales activities of TMME. Howett's passions revolve around horsepower, being both a keen horse rider and avid motor sport fan. He begins his second year as President of Toyota Motorsport in 2004 and working closely with Team Principal Tsutomu Tomita aims to further strengthen Panasonic
Toyota Racing's presence in Formula 1.

Mission: "My role as President is multi-faceted. Using the Toyota philosophy of going to the source of any problem to find the root cause, it is my task is to make continuous improvements to the team that will optimise the performance of the entire organisation with the focus on improved track performance. My aim is to build a great team, one that can become a championship contender as soon as possible, whilst reflecting the true values of the Toyota Corporation."


Ove Andersson Advisor

Career to date: In 1973, Toyota decided to launch a rally programme with the managerial and driving expertise of Swedish-born rally professional Ove Andersson. Andersson Motorsport moved from its base in Sweden, firstly to Brussels in 1975, and then to Cologne in 1979. Under Ove's direction, the then Toyota Team Europe (TTE) was the dominant force in the World Rally Championship in the 1990s. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota Motor
Corporation (TMC), the re-named Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) had a near miss in Le Mans in 1998, followed by a sensational 2nd place one year later. In 1999, Toyota decided to enter Formula 1, the pinnacle of motorsport, under Ove's presidency. Having reached the age of 66, Ove has now become an Advisor to Panasonic Toyota Racing, working with Tsutomu Tomita and John Howett.

Mission: "After 30 years of managing Toyota's European Motorsports activities, I am proud to be able to continue my support to the company in my new role as advisor. Back in 1975, I started with three people in Belgium and 2004 marks the 25th anniversary of Toyota Motorsport's presence in Cologne, where we moved in 1979. I look forward to passing my knowledge on to Tomita san and John and seeing Panasonic Toyota Racing succeed in 2004."


Toshiro Kurusu Vice-President

Career to date: A Mechanical Engineering graduate from Waseda University, Toshiro Kurusu originally joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 1974. Since that time Kurusu has gained invaluable experience in the chassis department, not only in engineering and design, but also in research and development and control system management. He moved to Germany to take up a new challenge as Toyota Motorsport's Executive Vice-President, a position he assumed from February 2002. Kurusu's role includes, amongst others, daily management of all technical areas of the company, liasing on a regular basis with Toyota Motor Corporation.

Mission: "As Executive Vice-President, I am in charge of managing all of the technical areas within Toyota Motorsport on a day-to-day basis with our two Technical Directors Luca Marmorini and Mike Gascoyne. As a member of the management team, I am also heavily involved with the general daily management of the company as a whole, additionally liaising with Toyota Motor Corporation together with Keizo Takahashi."


Toyota Motorsport - Technical

Luca Marmorini Technical Director Engine

Career to date: Luca Marmorini is responsible for Panasonic Toyota Racing's V10 engine department. The Italian, who holds a degree and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, is now in his fifth year at Toyota Motorsport having joined back in September 1999. His initial role as Project Leader for the Toyota F1 engine encapsulated all technical activities including design, calculation, R&D and dyno support. At the start of 2003, he stepped up to become General Manager of the engine department but 2004 holds fresh challenges for Luca. As Technical Director Engine, Luca and his team face new engine regulations, which stipulate that only one engine may be used per race weekend per car, a challenge that the Italian is relishing.

Mission: "My role covers organisational and technical aspects in the engine department. With my group of highly experienced technicians, we want to do our best to power the team to success. My true challenge is to prove that Panasonic Toyota Racing's engine is not just one of high performance, but also one which represents a different way of working, one that is worthy of the name Toyota."


Mike Gascoyne Technical Director Chassis

Career to date: Mike Gascoyne began his F1 career back in 1989 as an aerodynamicist with McLaren, where he stayed for three years. A brief spell as Chassis Dynamicist at Tyrell led to a three-year role as Head of Aerodynamics at Sauber before he rejoined Tyrell as Deputy Technical Director in 1993. Five years' later, he took up the role of Chief Designer at Jordan in 1998, and was quickly promoted to the team's Technical Director. He left in late 2000 to pursue the role of Technical Director at Benetton (now Renault). With a proven record for F1 success, Gascoyne joined Panasonic Toyota Racing in December 2003 to begin a new chapter in his illustrious career as Technical Director Chassis to complement Technical Director Engine Luca Marmorini.

Mission: "As Technical Director Chassis, I am responsible for managing all the technical aspects related to the chassis department and ensuring that we are creating a car for performance. I am also working closely with Luca Marmorini to make sure that the chassis and engine guys work together in the right direction. My priority is focussed on the long-term gains, but also to acquire the short-term consistency by getting the most out of the TF104 during the 2004 season, whilst looking ahead to make Toyota a leading team for the future."


Keizo Takahashi Director Technical Coordination

Career to date: Born in Fukushima, Keizo Takahashi started his Toyota career in 1980. For sixteen years, he worked in the passenger car engine development division. In January 1997, he moved to the race engine department to develop the race engine for the CART championship. In 1999, he took up the position of Project General Manager for CART engines. He moved to Germany in January 2001 to become Technical Co-ordinator of Toyota's F1 engine department. In 2003, Takahashi took up a new position as General Manager of Car Design and Development before becoming Director of Technical Co-Ordination for the 2004
season, a position which sees Keizo assume responsibility for the technical liaison between Toyota Motorsport in Cologne and Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan.

Mission: "My role is the technical co-ordination between Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan and Toyota Motorsport in Cologne. TMC's technical support for the F1 activities has been considerably increased since 2001 and has been of big help to the Panasonic Toyota Racing team. On the other hand, we must continue to strengthen our development for the future to maintain our progress. TMC can also provide invaluable support to us in this area."


Gustav Brunner Chief Designer

Career to date: A qualified mechanical engineer, Austrian Gustav Brunner has led a highly successful career in motorsport dating from the 1970's. Brunner's F1 career started back in 1978 when he joined the ATS team. During the 1980's he worked for Arrows, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Ram Hart. At the end of the decade he became Technical Director for Leyton House, a position he held for two years before moving to March in 1992 and then Minardi in 1993. Between 1994 and 1997, Brunner worked in the R&D department for Ferrari. He joined
Toyota Motorsport in May 2001 as the team's Chief Designer after three years as Technical Director for Minardi. His first project was the team's inaugural race car the TF102 that formed the basis for the 2003 race car, TF103, which qualified in the top ten in fourteen of the season's sixteen races. In the first half of 2003, Gustav and his team of designers began work on the TF104, which turned a wheel in anger for the first time in January 2004. Gustav is in now his fourth year as Chief Designer at Panasonic Toyota Racing.

Mission: "As Chief Designer, my role provides the biggest challenge in Formula 1, namely to produce the best, most reliable and quickest car on the grid. The Toyota chassis area has come on impressively in the last few years. The entire team has come together nicely and the TF104 is the product of our unified collaboration. My expertise have always been in designing cars, so the arrival of Mike Gascoyne will be beneficial to the overall management of the chassis area and I am hopeful of even greater things to come."


Toyota Motorsport - Operations

Norbert Kreyer General Manager Race and Test Engineering

Career to date: Norbert Kreyer had considerable motorsport experience before he joined Toyota in April 1997. The German spent six years in F1 as leader of the Zakspeed's engine department and, in 1990, began a two-year position at Toyota as General Manager for the rally engine. Between 1992 and 1997, the engineering graduate worked for Volkswagen and Ford, but rejoined Toyota in that year to work on the team's Le Mans engine. He began work on Toyota's V12 and V10 F1 engines in 1999 and managed the day-to-day running of the
team's F1 engine department until 2002. Norbert lives in the town of Niederzissen and has a huge passion for all kinds of motorsport. From 2003, Norbert began a new role as General Manager Race and Test Engineering, a function he will continue to hold in 2004.

Mission: "The main part of my job as General Manager of Race and Test Engineering will be focused at the track. I will be in charge of managing the engineering and operations side of our on-track activities, reporting directly to our Technical Director Chassis Mike Gascoyne."


Ange Pasquali Team Manager

Career to date: Ange has a background of successful team management in the World Rally Championship and Le Mans for Toyota and Ford since 1992. In 1997 he took over the position of General Manager of the logistics department and Team Manager of the Le Mans project at Toyota Motorsport in Cologne. Since 2001, Ange has continued in his capacity as Team Manager for Toyota's F1 activities. His role is multi-faceted, both on and off the track. Aside from the racing drivers and the team, one of his many functions is the day-to-day management of the Toyota Drivers Academy, to which six of motor racing's future driving talents are now signed.

Mission: "Aside from the usual team management responsibilities, I am responsible for ensuring the team adheres to all FIA sporting regulations during the race weekend. I am in charge of all matters and duties related to our drivers Olivier, Cristiano and Ricardo, as well as the Toyota Drivers Academy. Additionally I am responsible for all organisational and logistical areas of the team."


Richard Cregan General Manager, F1 Operations

Career to date: Irish-born Richard Cregan will celebrate his 20th anniversary with Toyota Motorsport in 2004, having begun his Toyota Motorsport career as a mechanic in 1984. Since that time he has worked in numerous positions within the company during both the WRC and Le Mans projects. With an education in aircraft engineering, and diplomas in business strategy and applied finance, Richard worked in the 1980's as a foreman in the Toyota rally workshop, as well as holding the positions of Production Manager, Operations Manager for Le Mans and General Manager General Affairs over the years. With Ove Andersson he also realised the potential and necessity to set up an in-house manufacturing base that, together with engineering, forms the core for the Formula 1 project. Richard has been General Manager F1 Operations since 2001, a role that sees him heavily immersed in the daily running of technical operations both in Cologne and at the race track.

Mission: "My role at Panasonic Toyota Racing is concentrated on the operational side of the race and test teams. This entails the day-to-day running of the technical operations both in house and on the track during race weekends. My main challenge is to create a team atmosphere where people can contribute to the best of their ability and are happy and willing to do so on a daily basis. Success is based on technical excellence, people and
the ability to build long-term innovation as a way of life."


Dieter Gass Chief Race Engineer

Career to date: German Dieter Gass has a vast array of motorsport experience having successfully worked in Le Mans, Touring Cars and other manufacturer categories. Gass has been with Toyota Motorsport since 2001, when he joined as a test engineer, as the team conducted extensive F1 testing with its TF101 test car at 11 Grands Prix circuits worldwide. In 2002, as Panasonic Toyota Racing made its debut in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, he stepped up to become a race engineer for car number 25 - Allan McNish's TF102. In 2003, a new role as Chief Race Engineer saw him further his involvement in the
team's on-track activities during race weekend, a function that he retains for Toyota's third season in F1. In this function, he will work closely with Olivier Panis's race engineer Humphrey Corbett, Cristiano da Matta's race engineer Remi Decorzent and Ossi Oikarinen, who will engineer the third car on Fridays.

Mission: "As Chief Race Engineer, I am in charge of overseeing all technical aspects of our race cars during the race weekends, as well as being involved in the race strategy. The particular challenges are always to get the best out of all the cars, check that both race cars are on the same level and that the results from testing are transferred from one to another. The most challenging thing is the race strategy, including what fuel level to run in second qualifying, since this is crucial to the overall race result."