Sunday October 13th, 2002

Toyota team boss Ove Andersson was pleased with the Japanese squad's first year in Formula One following the final race of the season on home ground, and claimed they are looking forward to enjoying a better campaign in 2003.

The Japanese squad have scored two points in their rookie season and have impressed with their performances in some Grands Prix.

At Suzuka today, Toyota finished the season with an eighth place by Finn Mika Salo, who was the only car from the Japanese squad taking place in the race after Allan McNish was forced to miss the event due to an accident yesterday.

"I am very happy we could end our first season in Formula One on a relatively high note with Mika finishing the race in 8th," said Andersson after the end of the race. "However, I am sad for the Japanese fans that they couldn't see Allan racing today.

"To sum up, I think that for a debut year we have had a very successful season and I look forward to an even better one in 2003."

Toyota president Fujio Cho was thankful to both Salo and McNish, who will leave the team, and admitted that Formula One was tougher than they had expected.

"I am very grateful to both Mika and Allan for their performance over the last two years," said Cho. "We have realised that F1 is much tougher than expected. We do want to make significant progress in 2003 and the experiences we have gained this season will be a real benefit to us."

Published at 08:46:19 GMT