September 30, 2004
The only word going around at Mapes-VO, besides coffee, now is 'finish'. The team just has to drive steady races and make sure they finish. Honda came up with an even more reliable engine after the Barcelona test held last week. Also Honda is very keen on taking the championship so they put all their efforts in making the engine as reliable as possible. Matt Hunt did a lot of tyre testing for Michelin. They didn't perform as they should the past few races. A victory on Michelin's home soil is very important for French tyre manufacturer. According to Michelin they found the right compound for the race, that would also work under colder circumstances.

Qualifying went pretty stable for the team. Mikko Jakonen qualified in 5th place, just 0.144 of a second behind title rival Steve Elencevski. New Mapes-VO driver Zlatko Bratonja took 8th position on the grid. So things look very good for the team. There's a good chance of taking home some important points again, just make sure both cars finish.

After the qualifying session Mikko gave a view on his 5th position and the upcoming race.

"I was very weary arriving here this weekend. I won the French GP in 2002 and haven't really driven here since, that's almost two and a half years ago! Last year I had retired after the first lap and I haven't taken part in testing that took place here. Now the laptimes are over 3 seconds faster than 2 years ago so I really didn't know what to expect. Luckily the team has done an amazing job, they provided me with a setup template that was much faster and much more stable than I had expected. It took me some extra time during practise to get all the details sorted out, so I didn't manage as much track time as I would've liked, but in the end I think the car is very good for the race.

The last sector is a bit problematic for me still, and the whole track is very technical, it's not easy to push for a 100% clean lap. I think on the qualy run I took a couple of corners a bit too carefully, I maybe lost some 3 tenths from an optimal lap I had in practise. It would've been nice to be in the second row as the start is very crucial (not to mention that my qualifying record hasn't been very flattering at all this year), but I hope I can take some positions before the first hairpin, that would help a lot setting up the race strategy. It won't be easy to overtake, so I need to fix my position ahead of Steve as early as possible.

Our strategy should be good and somewhat flexible even, so I'll just have to see if the MMC's maintain their excellent pace in the race, and how Steve starts his race. At this point I'm going to take a very pragmatic approach to the championship, I won't be driving for a win if it isn't necessary, my main concern is to keep Steve behind me or at least stay right behind him - the pressure is on him now so I will make sure I keep him on his toes all the time and make sure I won't make any costly mistakes, I'd rather leave those to him. But anyway, I think we're well prepared for the race, I'm certainly more optimistic now than before we arrived here. And we hit it off very well with Zlatko right from the start, he is a very competent driver and an excellent add-on to the team, I'm looking forward to celebrating his first points on Sunday."

Also Zlatko took some time to talk to the gathered press and give his view on things:

"It was a tough qualifying here, in terms of setting the car right. We had some problems to pull the maximum out of the car, but I think we managed to get it work properly. The tyres did underperform in my opinion but I hope they'll do better in the race. I'm quite pleased with 8th on the grid in my first race, but with a bit more effort I could have been sixth easily. That's on me now to make it happen in the race.

Yes, the MMCs look incredibly strong, but the strategies are unknown so anything can happen on raceday and we're definitely hoping for some strong points finishing."

And finally it was manager Peter van Oostende who spoke to the press.

"First of all my compliments to MMC Racing. A complete front row is quite an achievement. I spoke to Ryan just a few moments ago and he's absolutely thrilled with this result. But, as always, points are given after the race, so there's still a long way to go. I think we are in a very good position for the race. Michelin provided us with new tyres and Honda build a stronger and more reliable engine. With Mikko on P5 and Zlatko on P8, I'm sure there's a good chance of scoring some important points again. I think our strategy can sure help us in getting a good result here. It would be nice to repeat the 1-2 we had here in 2002."