Toyota Wraps Up Championship Inaugural IRL Campaign

 
       TORRANCE, Calif. (Oct. 16, 2003) - A manufacturer's championship, a driver's
championship, an Indianapolis 500 victory, 11 wins and 11 pole positions highlighted
Toyota's inaugural Indy Racing League IndyCar Series season in 2003.
       After wrapping up the IndyCar Series Engine Manufacturer's Championship in
August at Nazareth Speedway, three Toyota-powered drivers went down to the wire for
the driver's championship last weekend at the Texas Motor Speedway with Scott Dixon
coming out as the series champion.  The 23-year-old Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver
was followed by Marlboro Team Penske teammates Gil de Ferran and Helio
Castroneves as Toyota-powered drivers swept the top three point positions.
       "To have this type of success in a series as competitive as the IndyCar Series is
extremely rewarding for all those involved with the program," said Jim Aust, Toyota vice
president of motorsports.  "It's been a tremendous team effort combining great drivers
and teams with reliable and powerful Toyota engines.  We plan to take a few days and
enjoy these championships, but then it's back to work on what should be an even more
competitive series in 2004."
       Toyota has now captured two consecutive manufacturer's and driver's
championships, having won last year's CART title over Honda and Ford with Cristiano
da Matta taking driver's championship honors.
       Victories have become a staple of the Toyota program with 21 open-wheel wins
in 35 races over the past two seasons.  De Ferran registered Toyota's greatest triumph
in winning the Indianapolis 500, which featured a one-two Toyota finish in the
manufacturer's first-ever appearance at the famed Brickyard.
                                         (more)


Page 2, Toyota Post-Season Wrap


       This year's Toyota dominance extends even further as the manufacturer led the
IndyCar Series in virtually every statistical category.  Toyota more than doubled the
combined totals for its fellow manufacturers in wins, top-three finishes, poles and laps
led.
       "One of the keys to our success this year has been the depth of our program,"
Aust said. "We don't have one or two good teams running our engines, we have five.
We believe that's largely due to the fact that any team that runs Toyota engines knows
they're receiving equal service and quality."
       In addition to finishing 1-2-3 in the final standings, Toyota-powered drivers
finished sixth (Al Unser Jr.), seventh (Tomas Scheckter), eighth (Scott Sharp) and 10th
(Tora Takagi) in taking seven of the top-10 points positions.  Six different Toyota drivers
won races this year with Dixon and de Ferran with three each, Castroneves with two,
and Unser Jr., Sharp and Alex Barron each with one.


IRL IndyCar Series Engine Manufacturer's Statistics for 2003
Category                     Toyota                 Honda                 Chevrolet
Points                         145                    106                    101
Wins                            11                     2                      3
Top-three Finishes              31                     12                     5
Poles                           11                     3                      2
Laps Led                      2,327                   495                    439