Toyota and its motorsport team, Toyota Rally Team Saudi Arabia, have developed a new cross-country rally car, FJ Cruiser which will be seen in action in the international Baja Hail Rally 2010. In parallel to its competition activities, Toyota Rally Team is also furthering the development of the new Racing FJ Cruiser with the clear objective of winning the upcoming Hail Rally. There is no doubt that Toyota Motors through the last few years focused on Formula cars and has no dedicated rally car, hence it was a wise decision of ALJ to go ahead with their strategic partner and motorsport developer, Abdullah Bakhashab, to build this car and assume all the costs of this project, and that what was approved and worked out under the supervision of Bakhashab and some of European experts. Continuing the build-up to the International Hail Rally 2010, and with unusual challenge in the Kingdom, the team has developed two versions of the Toyota FJ Cruiser – Toyota FJ Cruiser Proto and Toyota FJ Cruiser Racer. This is the car which was built in Saudi Arabia and will be driven by Saleh Al-Saleh with additional driving support from Amro Al-Refai. As for the second car drivers, Toyota FJ Cruiser Proto, which truly represents the most unique Toyota car race in the world and specially designed for this type of racing, are still unidentified yet, may be before the rally start. The Race Truck is based on the all-new Toyota Racing Development (TRD) Special Edition FJ Cruiser sport utility vehicle (SUV). The TRD Special Edition FJ Cruiser is a unique limited edition package available for Baja Rallies. Toyota FJ Cruiser Proto, completely rebuilt in Europe, was decided to participate in last year Rally 2009, but unfortunately it didn't and that was because of Organizing Committee decision to postpone the race. Toyota Rally Team Saudi Arabia manager, William Korban said he is pleased that Toyota could assist another feeder category in Saudi Arabia this year through the FJ Cruiser Proto. “Our aim from the beginning was to go ahead with ALJ- Toyota motorsport developments in the Kingdom as one of their strategic goals. Going past, we can see that the team started by participating in national competitions then in international ones to go after that for the determination and development.” __
