A further third manufacturers’ title, this time for the Corolla WRC, came later in 1999 thanks to Carlos Sainz and Didier Auriol.
At the same time, TMG also took its first steps into endurance racing and a debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Although TOYOTA had competed at Le Mans since the 1980s, and finished second twice during this era, it wasn’t until the late 1990s that TMG became involved. The TS020, designed and built by TMG, became a Le Mans legend and set the technical standard by which all future endurance cars would be judged. However, bad luck denied it the Le Mans victory it richly deserved, with pole position and second place in 1999 the highlight of its two-race career.
In 1999, the announcement was made for TOYOTA to enter Formula 1 with TMG to design, build and run the car. It became only the second team in F1 to develop both the engine and chassis under one roof, underscoring the ambition and capability of the Cologne facility.
An intensive testing season in 2001 led to a sixth place race debut a year later in
the Australian Grand Prix. The eight- year involvement amassed three pole positions, three fastest laps, 13 podiums, 66 leading laps and 278.5 championship points.
Participation in F1 led to an expansion of TMG’s state-of-the-art facilities, incorporating two wind tunnels, a powerful computational fluid dynamics (CFD) cluster, driving simulator, test rigs, engine dynos and rapid prototyping technology.
Following TOYOTA’s withdrawal from F1 at the end of 2009, TMG modified its business model and became an engineering services supplier with clients, including several former F1 rivals, from motorsport, automotive and industries further afield.
Facilities such as the wind tunnels - capable of running 60% scale models or even full-size cars - are booked many months in advance, while TMG’s test rigs are busy with projects from the whole spectrum of automotive development. When precision, performance and quality are priorities, TMG is the first choice.
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