Toyota

**Toyota FE Team** is the works team of Toyota in Formula Earth. Having debuted in the former Formula 1 all the way back in 2002, the team, despite having a tremendous budget and spending the most out of any team, failed to win a single race and decided to pull the plug after a decent 2009 season. However, in 2033, Toyota returned to single seaters, running the Lexus team in Formula International and in 2036, following the grid's expansion to 26 cars, decided to return to the sport as a works team, shutting down Lexus after the 2036 season. The manufacturer had been absent for 27 years from the sport before their return.

## Origins and F1 History

Toyota had entered a variety of motorsport, winning a WRC title with their highly succesful Celiga GT-Four, battling then for more with the Corolla, and also entering the 24 Hours of Le Mans, although back then they failed to win the prestigious race. In 2002, Toyota disbanded their WRC and Le Mans programs in order to enter as a works team in Formula 1. Despite the hype however, having the largest budget in the sport by a large margin and spending tremendous amounts of cash in research and development, the team was a massive dissapointment as despite showing flashes of promise, failed to win a single race and was mostly an upper midfield team. Their peak year was in 2005, finishing 4th and coming close to winning races in multiple occasions. In 2009, despite finishing in the top 5, Toyota announced their departure from the sport following their lack of success, despite having built their 2010 car.

During their abscense from Formula 1, Toyota returned to WRC and Le Mans, winning not only multiple WRC titles during the new era dubbed as the second coming of Group B, but also dominating Le Mans after many years of bad luck and dissapointment. Following their increasing success in motorsport, Toyota decided to make a return to single seaters, first taking over the bankrupt Alpine team in Formula International after rivals and eventual debutants Nero withdrew from the bid due to a lack of preparation. The team created from the buyout was named Lexus FI team and despite not having the best pace, always managed to score great results, thanks to their organized thinking and talented lineup of Camilla Ruiz and Raviraj Kudmal. Following a great 2035 year, Toyota announced that thanks to the grid expansion, they would become the 13th team of Formula Earth, entering the sport after a 27-year hiatus. Lexus would race for one last year as Toyota's feeder and shutted down in the end of the year, as all of the main staff were promoted to Toyota.

## 2036: A difficult return

Following their success at Lexus, Ruiz and Kudmal were promoted to the first team. Kudmal would make his return to Formula Earth, having last raced in 2032. Due to entering for the first time in years, Toyota had made the worst car of the 2036 grid and it became clear that points would be hard to get for their first season. Despite initial rumours that the team would fail to even score a point, Kudmal defied all odds by scoring a 12th place on the team's first race and later a massive 8th place. He scored all of the team's 9 points. Ruiz came also close to scoring points, but failed to do so on her debut year. Despite the team's lack of pace, they did finish 12th, as Williams was disqualified from the standings, but even without the disqualification, Toyota would have still finished ahead.

## 2037: Mixing with the lower midfield

After a disappointing but somewhat expected poor debut, Toyota made the controversial decision to replace Raviraj Kudmal, their only points scorer of 2036, with Swedish driver Soren Larsson. This is rumoured to have been a decision influenced by Camila Ruiz. This season, the team were more in form, and despite not recording a podium finish, they finished the season in 11th with 75 points- Soren scoring 55 and Camila 20.

## 2038: Fighting near the front

The 2038 season was crucial- Toyota needed to prove that they meant business. They retained their solid lineup of Larsson and Ruiz, with Larsson stating that he believed he could win the title. They weren't quite able to contend for race wins, but 3 podiums from Larsson and a constructors result of 5th with 172 points marks their best season to date. Larsson scored 115 points in total while Ruiz, who had a difficult first half of the season, managed 57.

## 2039: Rough Patch

Inarguably Toyota's worst FE season to date, Toyota came out of the gate with one of the slowest cars, especially in the powertrain department. The team endured a tough season, scoring only 3 points, all of which from Larsson.

## Notable Drivers

* Camila Ruiz (2036-2039)
* Raviraj Kudmal (2036)
* Soren Larsson (2037-present)
* Eleni Tsobanou (2040-present)