January 24, 2006
Legendary French driver Alain Prost driving a Toyota Corolla is again challenging for the 2005-06 Andros Trophée ice racing championship.
The four-time World Formula One Champion, racing in his third season for Toyota, is placed third in the championship with three rounds remaining, 40 points behind nine-time Andros Trophée winner Yvan Muller.
Racing a modified Corolla prepared by Toyota France, Prost has had a consistent season and has featured on each spot of the podium at least once.
He won the opening round at the French ski resort of Val Thorens.
This season Prost has been joined in the Toyota France team by fellow French ex-Formula One driver Olivier Panis and former Le Mans racer Bertrand Balas.
Panis, who raced for Panasonic Toyota Racing until 2004 before taking up a test role with the F1 team, is participating in his first season racing on ice.
Muller leads the championship by 12 points from Jean-Philippe Dayraut with Prost 28 points behind in third place. Of the other Corolla drivers, Balas lies sixth and Panis is 10th.
The ice racing Corollas are prepared by Tork Engineering and feature a three-litre V6 engine, four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering.
They race on specially designed tyres that feature over 150 studs to provide grip on the icy tracks, where the cars reach speeds up to 160km/h.
The seven-round Andros Trophée series is based in France and runs on specially designed tracks at altitude, with racing often taking place at night under lights.
In order to promote close racing, the first three finishers in each round carry a ballast penalty for the next race.
The Andros races draw large crowds, especially at the two non-championship events, the Challenge sur glace in Quebec, Canada and the Super Finale held at the Stade de France in Paris on 18 March.
The Canadian event is relatively new, but is attended by more than 100,000 people over three days and this year will include guest drives by ex-F1 driver Jacques Laffite and Champ Car regulars Alex Tagliani, Patrick Carpentier and Andrew Ranger.
However, the highlight of the season is the Paris finale held in front of 60,000 spectators at the Stade de France, home of the 1998 World Cup Final.
The stadium is transformed into a 400m oval track using 20,000 blocks of ice weighing 700 tons that are joined together using liquid nitrogen
Toyota Motorsport
