May 10, 2002
A press conference was held shortly after the Austrian Grand Prix Qualifying session. The top 3 qualifiers were intended to be questioned, but Mr Coban failed to show up!, luckily Daan Van Renswoude [Pole] & Mikko Jakonen [3rd] did.

Daan, welcome to the Press Conference. :)

How does it feel to get pole position again?

Daan: "Of course it's great to be on pole again but I hope in the future there will be more people who can fight for pole. I think that would be good for the league and myelf because I have to push harder to get pole and I can improve myself more and more!"

How did your qualifying session go?

Daan: "My qualifiying session was very good. I went out on track and after 6 laps I had this time. It was possible for me to go faster, but I though that this time was good enough to get pole."

What are your thoughts for the race itself?

Daan: "I think I can take my third win of season. My speed is good here so it's very important to not make any mistakes!"

Do you feel any other team will gain a Pole in 2002?

Daan: "Like I said before, I hope there will be other teams fighting for pole this seasoon, but when I look at the results I think it will be hard for the other teams to get pole. I thought Jason Smith would be good enough to get some poles but he stopped. But when you see it this way the other teams will be able to improve more then we can so I think, and I hope, the difference will be smaller at the end of the season."

Thankyou Daan

Hello Mikko, how does it feel to qualify 3rd?

Mikko: "Well, the BMW's were using their potential to the fullest today, so there was no way of beating them. Accepting that as a fact, I'm very pleased as I was able to get under 1.11 only in the last minutes of the qualifying, which secured me the 3rd place. This is my best grid since Brazil and I couldn't have gone much faster, so keeping up with the good pace Mapes-VO has had recently feels very good indeed."

How did your qualifying session go?

Mikko: "I had big troubles during free practise. We tried to setup the car for this difficult track and it didn't work at all for me. Then this morning we had a long talk with the engineering staff and we came to an agreement that we should rather make the car fit me and then I'd take care of the track than to

alter the car for the track and then force me to adapt to the car. So we basically used the same car that I had in Spain, which felt really very good and after that I was able to negotiate the track instantly 1 second faster. During the session I pushed the envelope further and drove a really fast 3rd sector, which at least for me makes all the difference here. So in the end we learned more again and feel quite confident."

What are your thoughts for the race itself?

"Third on the grid is a good place to start. The track doesn't allow any mistakes so I'll concentrate on keeping my position and try not to let the front runners out of my sight. There seems to be a small chance of rain, and that might make things interesting. That would especially help my team mate who's definitely one of the best wet racers in the league. We have improved our strategy from race to race, so I think I should be able to hold my position to the podium. But anything can happen, as we've seen before. One question mark is of course our new evolution Honda, which has not been extensively tested at race lenght yet."

Are there any other teams/drivers you are expecting to be fighting against later in the season?

Mikko: "Well, I have two obvious goals: first, to keep Mapes-VO in the 2nd position in the teams championship and second, to get to the top 3 in the drivers championship. As Smith and Miguel are out for the time being, I've got my team mate, Turner and Renswoude ahead of me. I've known Andrew from other circles and he has been the one to match for me.. if he gets into his early season form he will be tough one to beat in his Merc. The BMW's are untouchable at this point, unless Honda comes up with something brilliant during the season. Kieran has been doing great races even from difficult grid positions, and I think he will improve as the season progresses and he gets to the tracks he likes best. So it will be tough. I'm a bit puzzled why the Ferrari's haven't been giving a bigger fight for points, but I'm not complaining."