SEPANG, Malaysia - Toyota are ready to hit the front in Formula One this season after Jarno Trulli secured their first ever podium in the Malaysian Grand Prix here Sunday.
Trulli, who is in his first full season with the team, qualified on the front row for the second consecutive Grand Prix and controlled his pace to maintain his second place to the finish.
The team, which made its debut in 2002 and runs on one of the sport's larger budgets, appear to have leapt forward this season and Trulli promised there is more to come as they chase their first ever victory.
"We still have some work to do, but it is definitely nice to be here," said Trulli. "It was a challenge when I chose Toyota, but I chose them for several reasons and I knew there was a lot of potential in this team.
"Now we know we have to work on the engine, the chassis and the aerodynamics, but we have got tremendous, experienced people and lots of highly experienced engineers who can do it for the future.
"So it is a good boost this first podium, it came at the right time for the team and at the right place because I believe this race is one of the toughest technically in the heat.
"It is fantastic to bring the first podium finish to Toyota. The team have done a good job over the winter and we are now on the pace and looking strong for the season."
Trulli spent last season with Renault but fell out with the team midway through the season and joined Toyota early to compete in the final races of the season last year.
The team brought in former Renault technical director Mike Gascoyne to improve their design room management and his design team have honed the new car into a potential race winner.
Renault are in a league of their own and Trulli could not compete with race winner Fernando Alonso, Trulli's former team-mate, but Toyota were able to control their pace in the race and ensure a reliable finish.
"I drove my race, I was competitive and I started managing the race, taking care of the tyres," said Trulli. "It is the second race for the engine and it is fantastic for the team.
"I wanted to manage the tyres a little bit from the beginning, I tried to follow Fernando for the first 10 laps but then I was thinking I was pulling away from Giancarlo, but I couldn't keep Fernando's pace.
"So I just wanted to slow down and take care of the tyres and then mid-race I had such a big gap that team started to worry me about the front tyres and I had to slow down."
Gascoyne claimed that the team can now go on to claim their first ever victory within the remaining 17 races of the year and he is pushing the designers to continue development on the car at a rapid rate.
"We have shown that we can deliver and now we need to go on and we need to start winning races," said Gascoyne. "We did say after second stops it would be a long few laps and it was!
"But Jarno did a great job. He was criticised, people said after Melbourne that it was Jarno dropping off the pace but he showed what he can do here and it is great. He is a great guy."
03/20/2005 12:00 GMT