Toyota deserts motorsport

...by the withdrawal of the last official factory team in the series and top-name drivers Neal Bates and Simon Evans.

Toyota withdrew its support from rallying yesterday as it ended all involvement in Australia motorsport as part of a move to cut non- essential costs from its troubled local sales operation.

It followed Ford and GM Holden in slashing its spending on motorsport but took it to the next level, trumping its rivals' multi-million dollar cuts on their V8 Supercar programs with a total withdrawal.

The decision ends 20 years in the Australian Rally Championship, the speedway support of national champion Brooke Tatnell, a blossoming program in drag racing and even support of the youth-focussed Australian drift championship.

The biggest casualty is Neal Bates, who has won three national rally titles for the company and provided the cars to give Simon Evans two more.

"I'm devastated by it. I only got the news last night," Bates said yesterday.

"I'm sad but I feel privileged to have had the success we have had in all sorts of cars, from the original Celica through to the latest Corolla we designed and built at our base in Canberra. The worst thing is that people are going to lose their jobs and this is like a family."

Bates and his co-driver Coral Taylor still plan to compete in the opening event of this year's ARC, Rally Tasmania next month, as well as the team's home event in Canberra. He is also hopeful of finding buyers for Corolla rally cars.

"I want to keep doing but I don't plan to send myself broke." We've already had a few possibilities come along today, but there is an enormous difference between a possibility and a signed deal," Bates said.

Evans' plans are unknown for the moment, although he has rallied before in Subaru cars and has had offers to compete in the China Rally Championship with his co-driving wife Sue.