de Cortanze leaves Toyota F1 project.

Toyota Motorsport GmbH [TMG] has announced that technical director Andre de Cortanze will leave the Cologne-based operation with immediate effect.

No reason has been given by the team for de Cortanze's departure, but it has been confirmed that the decision was taken by mutually agreement.

The board of directors at TMG have now formed a Technical Project Management Team to drive forward the next stage of the grand prix project, which is due to enter competition with the first race of 2002. TMG president Ove Andersson will chair the project team, which consists of key departmental managers and engineers.

"These latest changes to our management give us a more solid foundation on which we can carry on building a successful new F1 race team," Andersson said, "We continue to develop our organisation, which has a strong technical structure and have no plans to announce a new technical director in the short term. Our F1 project is on schedule and we are pleased with our progress so far. We thank Andre for his contribution over his four years with TMG and wish him well for the future."

The shock announcement will no doubt give rise to much speculation as to the reasons behind de Cortanze's sudden departure, as well as conjecture about the identity of the man who will replace him.