Belgium: Toyota aiming to continue strong run
By Nick Sparkes
September 8 2005
Panasonic Toyota Racing’s ‘One Aim’ has opened a new door, their aim, to beat Ferrari. On current form this weekend could see Toyota overtake Ferrari for third place in the championship with only 3 races to go. Therefore this is an important weekend for everybody at Toyota!
Spa is a circuit which you can never predict. The weather is always an ‘If’, who can forget Belgium 1998 and the 14 car pile-up at the start? And the results can always throw a double six. Therefore this weekend could see the impossible, and with championship leader Fernando Alonso needing only 4 points to take the title, this could be the worst place to try and do it. If the rain does come down, expect anything with Bridgestone tyres to take advantage; maybe it’ll be Ferrari’s only chance of taking a win with more than 4 other cars on the same piece of tarmac.
The Spa-Francorchamps circuit should suit the Toyota TF105 more than the last race in Monza, where Toyota still walked away with a double points finish. This weekend their aim is to outscore Ferrari by over 8 points, allowing them to build a gap before we move to China for the final race of the season. The team's technical director, Mike Gascoyne is excited about the teams chances this weekend: "Spa-Francorchamps is the most challenging circuit we go to during the season, both from a driving and an engineering perspective," said Gascoyne. "The track combines some very high speed corners - including the fantastic and legendary Eau Rouge - with low speed corners like La Source and the Bus Stop. There is a mixture of standard track and normal road with significant elevation changes. The biggest challenge comes from finding the most competitive set-up to cope with the varying speeds during the lap. The high speed sections lead to a tendency to reduce wing level, which makes corners like Eau Rouge demanding. But we have to make sure that we have a good top speed on the return to the Bus Stop and the flat-out left-hander Blanchimont."
"The circuit is also demanding for engines, especially over the long section towards Radillon and back to Blanchimont," he added. "We expect our package to suit the Spa-Francorchamps track. This year season our car has suited almost all types of circuit, so I expect this trend to continue."
Team leader Jarno Trulli aims to build on his amazing Pole Position he took last year, although is expecting the unexpected knowing the nature of the circuit: "I always look forward to our trips to Spa, and I think every other driver on the grid has the same feeling. It's one of the most difficult tracks in the world and that makes everything more interesting from the inside of the cockpit. It's a technical circuit and that means it also shows how good a driver really is. Over the course of a lap you face pretty much every kind of corner there is, and there are lots of chances for making up time. It's a much longer lap than most, and it's harder to find the limit than anywhere else. You have to concentrate hard throughout the lap, but it's also all about finding the rhythm of the circuit. So far I've always gone pretty well there, so I will be looking forward to the challenge again this weekend. It's always difficult to know what to expect before you get to a race but things went well in Italy so let's hope for another good result."