Obituary – Ove Andersson
Alan Henry, The Guardian, 12/6/2008

The Swedish-born Ove Andersson, who died yesterday, aged 70, in a head-on collision while competing in a vintage car rally in South Africa, not only carved out a reputation as an accomplished and competitive international rally driver, but also made a successful switch to motorsport management when he took over the role of team principal of the emergent Toyota formula one operation, which made its world championship debut in 2002. He was responsible for shaping Toyota's international motorsport presence over a period of 30 years, initially behind the wheel but increasingly as a top-class administrator and strategist.

On the face of it, one might be forgiven for thinking that the alliance between the avuncular Swede and his Japanese employers, with their structured thinking and penchant for doing things their own way rather than relying on outside assistance, would be a recipe for strife. Yet Andersson managed to strike just the right balance of deference and independent spirit to make their partnership work well.

He came from a humble background. He was born in Uppsala and grew up on a remote farm, cycling four miles each way to school on his mother's old bicycle. After his father acquired a 98cc motorcycle, he developed an interest in machinery - and in speed. While studying engineering, he saw his first ice races and was soon working as a marshal on the Hedemora circuit, where the Swedish grand prix was held for cars and bikes. But he left college early and worked as an assistant blacksmith while continuing his education with a correspondence course. Moving on to a local automobile repair shop, he impressed the owner with his abilities on a motorbike, who encouraged the youngster to go racing.

In 1958 Andersson did his national service and stayed on to become a member of the UN peacekeeping force in the Gaza Strip, where he survived typhoid. When he returned to Sweden, he found it hard to settle and in order to kill time, he began repairing Saabs. A friend suggested that they club together to take part in a local rally. They finished sixth and Andersson's interest was fired. His first works drive, with a Mini Cooper in the 1963 Swedish Rally, was sufficiently successful for Ford's rally boss Stuart Turner to offer him a Mini Cooper S for the RAC Rally. He was then signed by Saab for 1964.

During his own rally career in the 1970s, Andersson won the Monte Carlo rally, the Rallye Sanremo, the ?sterreichische Alpenfahrt and the Acropolis rally. After the inauguration of the World Rally Championship in 1973, usually driving a Toyota Celica, he achieved seven podium places in his 28 outings in the series and won the 1975 Safari rally in a Peugeot 504, co-driven by Arne Hertz.

In the early 1970s, he was also the owner of his own rally team, Andersson Motorsport, which later became the Toyota Team Europe, and achieved much success in the World Rally Championship. He was the first head of Toyota's formula one programme, debuting in 2002. He retired from that position in 2003, but still worked as a consultant to Toyota Motorsports.

Striking a balance between active participation and management duties became a more demanding act as rallying popularity expanded towards the end of the 1970s, and in 1980 Andersson realised that it was no longer feasible to mix driving and team management. So he retired from driving and put all his efforts into turning Toyota Team Europe, as his Cologne-based operation was now called, into a world-class operation. He and his team hit their stride when the new Toyota Celica GT4 came into action. From Juha Kankkunen's 1989 Rally Australia win, the car just kept on winning. Twelve more triumphs followed, as did the 1990 drivers' title for Carlos Sainz.

Andersson's outstanding car was developed to fresh standards of competitive excellence as the Celica Turbo 4WD. From 1992 to 1994, this car carried three drivers (Sainz, Kankkunen and Didier Auriol) to successive drivers' championship successes.

Another enormous source of pride for Andersson were the two manufacturers' titles he collected for Toyota in 1993-94. He would repeat that feat in 1999, when, after a return to the Corolla (this time in World Rally Carspec), he bagged another title.

In 2002 he was nominated as team principal of the fledgeling Toyota formula one team, which began competing with Finland's Mika Salo and Scot Allan McNish. This was very much new territory for Andersson, who gave the impression that he found it difficult to come to terms with the political ways of formula one after what he regarded as the relatively straightforward atmosphere of the rally scene.

He also soon found himself under pressure. After all that glory on the international rallying trail, Toyota found themselves pulled up sharply by the competitive intensity of formula one. They expected it to be a long road to achieve success, but 10th place with only two points in the constructors' championship was far less than the top brass had hoped for. The 2003 season was little better, with eighth place and 16 points being recorded. Andersson was held responsible for this failure and was quietly retired, although the magnitude of his previous achievements guaranteed him a lifetime place as a consultant. He had partially settled in South Africa since retiring.

Married three times, he leaves two sons and a daughter. His second wife, Elizabeth Nystrom, his co-driver in several events, went on to become a Swedish member of parliament.

Ove Andersson, rally driver, engineer and racing administrator, born January 3 1938; died June 11 2008.

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