The Andros Trophy is a perfect combination of rally super stages and circuit racing, held on snow/ice tracks and featuring outstanding machines often producing over 300HP with all-wheel-steering.
This year, Toyota confirmed their domination thanks to an outstanding team of drivers, engineers and mechanics to grab their second title in a row.
Press Release
Last winter’s winning tandem retained their title, giving the Toyota Auris its second Andros Trophy victory in two outings. The season ended in a blaze of glory with Alain Prost’s and Olivier Panis’s victory in the Stade de France, in front of 62 000 spectators.
Alain Prost scored seven wins in fourteen races, two of which were with the maximum ballast load-60 kgs. The Frenchman’s title, in his second season at the wheel of the Toyota Auris, drove home the point that he had attained the same level of excellence on ice as in his days in Grand Prix racing, when he racked up four world titles.
Alain is a perfectionist and has already scored 22 Andros victories; his temperament dovetails perfectly with Toyota’s continuous improvement philosophy - kaizen. So is he out to equal his F1 number of victories (51)?
“I haven’t really set myself a precise target,” is his answer despite his well-known passion for statistics.
“All I can say is that this type of racing suits me down to the ground. Our team is closely-knit, at the top of its game and everybody knows exactly what his role is. Our Toyota Auris just keeps on getting better, and is now completely at home on all icy surfaces. The overall level of the competition is higher than ever, and the general ambience is very healthy and very sporting. What more could you ask for?”
Tork Engineering has built up the Toyota Auris (with 4-wheel drive and 4-wheel steering) around the Lexus RX 300 3-litre V6 engine. It made its ice debut three months before going on sale on the French market.
At the time, December 2006, Toyota France already had a first to its name, as not very often does a new model makes its competition debut before its official presentation! When the Toyota Auris finally went on sale to the public some eleven months ago, it had already won its first title. It was an immediate success, as at the end of December 2007, its results in France helped Toyota to progress by more than 43% in the C market segment (family compacts). In the same period the Toyota Auris “Ice” made continuous progress.
“During the summer we did not concentrate our efforts on the engine alone,” says Richard Tur, the Toyota Team’s technical director. “We also worked on the damping and it paid off when we raced on churned-up surfaces; maybe that’s what helped us keep our title.”
In fact, the outcome remained undecided for a long time. There were numerous occasions when several teams were in the running for the title, which shows just how closely fought the battle was this winter. In l’Alpe d’Huez before Christmas, Alain Prost looked to have it sewn up. Then at the end of the second week in January after the break, Jean-Philippe Dayraut put himself back in the title chase with a vengeance by scoring two wins on the trot.
“The first day, I had victory in my grasp,” states Alain Prost, “but I made a small mistake on the first lap of the second qualifying round, and Jean-Philippe took advantage of that to win. It was only a small error but it could have cost me the championship!” Less than a week later in Isola 2000, the Toyota Auris driver put himself back into contention by coming first in the weekend’s two races. This allowed him to tackle the end of the season in a more relaxed frame of mind. Olivier Panis did not manage to break his Andros Trophy duck due to a recurrent lack of success, even though he was nearly always fighting at the front taking seven rostrum finishes in the fourteen races.
He came home third on four occasions and second three times just missing out on victory by 1/10s on one occasion. “It’s not a big deal,” Olivier comments. “I’ve learned patience in the Andros Trophy! It’s a very tough challenge because of the many parameters you have to cope with: the car’s set-up, tyre management, the evolution of the track according to the weather etc. All I needed was a little push from Lady Luck, which never came. Well, no problems. I had some marvellous times with the Toyota team in an exceptional ambience, and that’s what really counts.” Even if the Super Final in the Stade de France did not count for the Trophy classification, Olivier Panis, who teamed up with Alain Prost for the occasion, had the satisfaction of winning the blue ribbon event of the season! Alain is the first to acknowledge the major role played by Olivier Panis and Bertrand Balas in the golden Toyota Auris in the team’s success. Balas, who set off well before his team-mates in the qualifying heats, was able to give them accurate feedback on the car’s handling in relation to the track’s evolution. Alain Prost’s second title was the fruit of both his own talent and teamwork, crowned by a Prost-Panis-Balas triple in the Auvergne, in the last race of the winter. It was a symbolic result after fifty-six days’ hard grind from the 8th December 2007 in Val Thorens to the 2nd February 2008 in Super Besse.
2007-2008 ANDROS TROPHY LANDMARKS Sunday 9th December 2007, Val Thorens : Alain Prost begins the 2007-2008 season with a victory at the wheel of his Toyota Auris. Saturday 12th January 2008, Lans-en-Vercors : The quadruple F1 world champion tightens his grip on first place in the Trophy. Saturday 2nd February 2008, Super Besse : Alain Prost and his Toyota Auris retain their title after a spectacular Toyota triple : 1st Prost, 2nd Panis and 3rd Balas. Sunday 16th February 2008, Stade de France : Alain Prost, Olivier Panis and the Toyota Auris are the Super Final winners in the Stade de France!
FIGURES
16! The number of victories of the Toyota Auris (out of 27 races) in the Andros Trophy, since its debut on 10th December 2006 in Val Thorens (Alain Prost: 14 – Bertrand Balas: 2).
22! The number of victories of Alain Prost since his debut in the Andros Trophy, on 17th January 2003 in Lans-en-Vercors.
STATISTICS
Alain Prost scored two doubles in two weekends – the second with 60 kilos of ballast in his Toyota Auris. In two seasons, he has averaged just over one victory every two races in the Andros Trophy: 27 races, 14 victories.
Olivier Panis scored a rostrum finish every second weekend (7 rostrum finishes out of 14 races). He racked up four third and three second places, one of which was only 92/1000s off the winner. Bertrand Balas finished on the rostum on four occasions and won the last race of the season. The Toyota Auris scored a double in Andorra and a triple in Super Besse. They won 11 “Sup. Elit Finals” : 7 with Alain Prost, 2 with Olivier Panis and 2 with Bertrand Balas.
ROSTRUMS 1- VAL THORENS (8th/9th December 2007) Race 1: 1- PROST ; 2- LANCTUIT ; 3- LAGORCE. Race 2: 1- LAGORCE ; 2- DAYRAUT ; 3- PANIS. 2- ANDORRA – PAS DE LA CASE (15th/16th December 2007) Race 1: 1- PROST ; 2- BALAS ; 3- DAYRAUT. Race 2: 1- LAGORCE ; 2- DAYRAUT ; 3- BALAS. 3- ALPE d’HUEZ (21st/22nd December 2007) Race 1: 1- PROST ; 2- STIEVENART ; 3- PANIS. Race 2: 1- PROST ; 2- LAGORCE ; 3- STIEVENART. 4- LANS-EN-VERCORS (11th/12th January 2008 ) Race 1: 1- DAYRAUT ; 2- PROST ; 3- BALAS. Race 2: 1- DAYRAUT ; 2- LAGORCE ; 3- PANIS. 5- ISOLA 2000 (18th/19th January 2008 ) Race 1: 1- PROST ; 2- LANCTUIT ; 3- PANIS. Race 2: 1- PROST ; 2- DAYRAUT ; 3- FERRIER. 6- SERRE CHEVALIER (25th/26th January 2008 ) Race 1: 1- GHERARDI ; 2- PANIS ; 3- PROST. Race 2: 1- DAYRAUT ; 2- STIEVENART ; 3- PROST. 7- FINAL SUPER BESSE (1st/2nd February 2008 ) Race 1: 1- DAYRAUT ; 2- PANIS ; 3- PROST. Race 2: 1- PROST ; 2- PANIS ; 3- BALAS. 8- SUPER FINAL STADE DE FRANCE* (16th February 2008 )
* does not count for the overall classification 1- PROST - PANIS ; 2- DAYRAUT - LAGORCE ; 3- BALAS - FOUQUET. FINAL OVERALL CLASSIFICATION 1- Alain Prost (Toyota Auris), 928 points (7 victories) ; 2- Jean-Philippe Dayraut, 910 (4 victories) ; 3- Franck Lagorce, 886 (2 victories) ; 4- Olivier Panis (Toyota Auris), 873 ; 5- Bertrand Balas (Toyota Auris), 855 ; 6- Benjamin Rivière 829, etc. (48 drivers classified)
Posted on 22/02/08 By F.B
