Toyota Motorsport today announced that Tsutomu Tomita will stand down as Chairman and Team Principal at end of June 2007 at the Toyota Formula 1 team. Tadashi Yamashina, Toyota Motorsport Vice Chairman, will replace Tomita.
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Tomita, 63, has been based at Toyota Motorsport's headquarters in Cologne, Germany since 2003, but he will return to Japan in the middle of the year where new assignments await him within the Toyota group.
Tomita has been a driving force behind Toyota's motorsport involvement, having taken charge of motorsport engines in 1987, including those which subsequently won World Rally Championships and claimed podium finishes at the Le Mans 24 Hours. He also oversaw Toyota's entrance into single-seater racing in the United States, which saw a first CART series title in 2002 and an IRL Indianapolis 500 victory on Toyota's debut in 2003.
He joined the board of Toyota Motor Corporation in 1996 and took control of all motorsport activities, giving him a crucial role in the establishment of Panasonic Toyota Racing in Formula 1. In the position of Chairman and Team Principal, he has helped establish Panasonic Toyota Racing as an ambitious team with the potential to succeed.
Tomita said: "Since 2002 I have been involved in Toyota's Formula 1 project which has been one of the most challenging and exciting periods of my career. In fact the detailed preparation for entry into Formula 1 started more than four years before we entered our first race."
Tomita furthermore said: "I am pleased to pass this on to Mr Yamashina whom I am sure will continue to build from the platform which has been established over the past six years. I am looking forward to celebrating Toyota's first victory in Formula 1 which I believe will happen sooner rather than later, based on the technological capability and competent team of people which has and is being established in Cologne."
