| Manufacturer | Toyota |
|---|---|
| Team Manager | Tony Niovanni |
| Race Drivers | John Smith (1985-90) Drew Price (1985-89) John Faulkner (1985-90) Ray Cutchie (1985) Mike Quinn (1986-87) Mike Freeman (1988) Peter McKay (1988-90) Mike Oliver (1988) Brett Riley (1988) Neal Bates (1989-90) Mike Dowson (1989-90) Mark Poole (1990) Paul Stokell (1990) |
| Chassis | Sprinter Corolla E80 Corolla E90 Supra |
| Debut | 1985 |
| Drivers' Championships | 5 (1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990) |
Toyota Team Australia was the name of two allied Australian motor racing teams. One competed in theAustralian Touring Car Championship between1985 and1990. The other was a rally team in theAustralian Rally Championship that competed from 1988 and continues today the identity ofNeal Bates Motorsport as a historic rally team.
Toyota Team Australia was founded in 1985 as the factory team ofToyota. The team competed in the under two litre category of theAustralian Touring Car Championship withSprinters andCorollas winning the category in most years.[1]
In1989 the team commenced competing in the outright class with aSupra, however because of the weight regulations of the time the car was not competitive. Also, and unfortunately for TTA and its lead driver John Smith who was given the job of developing the Supra, Toyota really wasn't interested in touring car racing other than its Corolla's (being their bread and butter showroom sellers) usually winning the baby car class and the budget to develop the Supra just wasn't enough to make it competitive inGroup A racing. Most of theToyota Racing Development (TRD) budget went to theirGroup Csports cars and theirWorld Rally Championship (WRC) efforts.
Toyota Team Australia closed at the end of1990, although much of the team's personnel and equipment were reassembled by lead driver John Smith for the1991 and1992 Bathurst 1000s with the turbo Supra.[2][3]
