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TTE and the ST185 After Carlos Sainz winning the 1990 World Rally Championship for Drivers and becoming 2nd in the 1991 championship with the Celica GT-Four ST165, Toyota Team Europe (TTE) introduced the ST185 for the 1992 season. Lots of early testing paid off in the first rally with the new car; Sainz managed to finish in 2nd place in the Monte-Carlo rally. At just 2 minutes and 5 seconds behind Didier Auriol in the Lancia Delta HF Integrale, Sainz showed not only the spectators, but also the competition Toyota was going to continue at the top. Although several privateers and national teams were very successful with the ST185, this page is purely about the TTE works entries. The 1992 WRC season 1993: New sponsor, new drivers The domination continues in 1994 1995: One last victory  The 1992 WRC season For the 1992 season Toyota contracted the following drivers and co-drivers (right to left); Carlos Sainz/Luís Moya, Armin Schwarz/Arne Hertz, Markku Alén/Ilkka Kivimäki and Kenneth Eriksson/Nicky Grist:  Upon the request of TTE, the ST185's modifications were mainly dedicated to improved cooling efficiency. Where the ST165 more than once had timing belt issues due to the heat, the ST185 had a special snorkel to prevent the timing belt from melting. The front facia also got more and bigger air ducts to achieve the set cooling goals. The car however, proved to be quite difficult to control and the mechanics had to deal with several problems through the car’s debuting year. At that point the suspension design and drivetrain were modified after which the car began to show it's full potential while staying a true driver's car. The center diff for instance, had been altered to 50:50 for smoother cornering which also caused more understeer. The gearbox was also modified to suit the high engine torque, resulting in a more robust and reliable car. After winning 4 rounds in the 1992 season, Carlos Sainz again won the World Championship title. Results of the 1992 WRC season
 Carlos Sainz and Luís Moya celebrating their victory in the 1992 Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava 1993: New sponsor, new drivers During the 1993 season Carlos Sainz was under contract with Lancia. When Repsol stopped the sponsorship contract with TTE and also moved to Lancia, the 1993 car got the colour scheme of crown sponsor Castrol. Another change was the move from Pirelli to Michelin, which ensured competitive equality in terms of tires. The photograph of TTE drivers and co-drivers below was taken at the 1993 Safari Rally. From left to right it shows (co-driver/driver); Juha Piironen/Juha Kankkunen, Ilkka Kivimäki/Markku Alén, Ian Munro/Ian Duncan and Sudhir Vinayak/Yasuhiro Iwase:  In 1993 Juha Kankkunen came back to Toyota as the new main man. After his co-driver Juha Piironen fell out due to a serous head injury, Kankkunen changed co-pilots three times during the season. The first time Nicky Grist drove with him they immediately took the first place. After the Kankkunen/Grist team's third victory in the British RAC Rally, Juha Kankkunen was the new World Champion while Toyota won the long awaited World Championship for Manufacturers. Results of the 1993 WRC season
 Juha Kankkunen and Juha Piironen flat out during the 1993 Trustbank Safari Rally The domination continues in 1994 Didier Auriol and Juha Kankkunen stayed with TTE/Toyota for the following season. Accompanied by Yoshio Fujimoto and his co-driver Hakaru Ichino (both from Japan) the new 1994 team was formed. Although TTE brought the new ST205 to the Telecom Rally Australia as a final testing stage, the ST185 proved still to be competitive - resulting in a lot of podium finishes throughout the '94 season. Once again Carlos Sainz, now driving for Subaru, was a force to be reckoned with. A nice example was Corsica; Auriol finished the first day in the lead and had a 30 second lead before he spun and stalled his engine. Sainz caught up on the last day and could even have won the rally but had to reach the finish with a flat tire.  Didier Auriol and Bernard Occelli drifting their Celica throughout the 1994 TAP Rallye de Portugal Results of the 1994 WRC season
 Didier Auriol and Bernard Occelli on their way to victory in the 1994 Rallye Sanremo. By doing this 3 points in Wales would secure the championship. 1995: One last victory The 1995 Safari Rally of Kenya was the last WRC victory for the ST185. Yoshio Fujimoto and Arne Hertz managed to win the rally in a total stage time of 17h 38m 27s. Although the ST205 was TTE's new weapon of choice, the reliable ST185 was still being used by TTE several rallies in the 1995 season. Results of the TTE ST185's during 1995 WRC season
During a technical inspection at the 1995 Rallye Catalunya, FIA officials discovered an illigal turbo restrictor in Auriol's ST205. This device limits the amount of air that can enter the turbo and thus the horsepower output. Toyota engineers had mounted the restrictor in a clever way so that it could move from the turbo, letting more air in. As a result of this cheating, the ST205 drivers were disqualified and taken out of the championship. TTE got banned from the WRC for 12 months and the points already won in the 1995 Manufacturers Championship were also taken away by the FIA. The ST185 apparently still used a legal restrictor and therefore Yoshio Fujimoto and Arne Hertz were the only TTE team not to be disqualified. However, since the Safari Rally Kenya wasn't part of the grp. A8 championship, they've ended up at a split 14th place with the 4 points won in Australia. 
 Related linksCarlos Sainz ST185 Grp. A8 specifications TTE works ST185 register Top |
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