September 11, 2004
It's 12.00 CET and Team Manager Kari Koski opens the FinOz Press Conference, the press office is full of media and other team personnel.

Those present have been informed that the FinOz media team will hand out booklets confirming the content of the forthcoming conference -

(a PDF version of the conference can be downloaded by clicking HERE.)

"It's 12 O'clock and it's time to begin the FinOz Racing press conference. First I want to welcome you all here, nice to see such a big crowd here today. I will talk shortly about the basic outline of the press conference and later on reporters can ask questions to myself, Steve Elecenvski or Juha Tanskanen."

FinOz Racing is happy to announce that team has done a two (2) year deal with Steve Elencevski and he will be driving with us till the end of 2006. Also Juha Tanskanen's contract has been renewed and he will be our test and stand-in driver also till the end of 2006. If the planned supporter class [Formula Renault?] will be organized at 2005, FinOz Racing considers junior team or tries to find race driver role for Juha. FinOz Racing wants to further develop Tanskanen as race driver and give him opportunity to learn tracks and get all important mileage behind the wheel on racing situation.

New car development is on schedule and first tests with the 2005 car are planned to be driven in late November just after the Gold Cup race.

"Well basically, this is what we wanted to tell you all, now it's time for some questions."

The future of Kari Koski as a race driver for 2005 is still uncertain.

It is not known if he will race or take a back seat & test for the team, which leads us to a possible new driver in the 2nd FinOz car.

Questions from the floor:

Q: Steve, you have had a very strong second half of the season, do you think you can catch Jakonen?

A: Yes it's gone extremely well. 14 pts in 4 races will be very hard as Mikko has been quite consistent all year, but i'll give it my best shot & we'll see what happens when we head to Brazil.

Q: Juha, you arrived in last minute, team manager looked very unhappy for waiting for you, can you tell us what happened:

A: Well the story ainīt so interesting as you might think, Last night i met Toby Lock at the pitlane, as you all know he is a party animal, so i decided to check out Monzaīs nighlife with him and now here we are over 30 minutes late.

Q: Juha, how important do you see your test driver role at FinOz racing as your career development?

A: Well, of course it is important, itīs almost vital. Having a change see these guys working with the car and see how they do different things right. It has been and it will be a big part of my cereer development.

Q: Juha, you have now driven in 2 races, would you like to have a full season in 2005? Or are you happy as a test driver and maybe drive Formula Renault's?

A: Well, i definetly would like to have some kinda race drive along with test drive, is it f1vwc or formula renaults or something like that, i canīt say cause i donīt know.

Q: Kari, you just announced contracts for Steve and Juha, but who will be the 2nd driver in the team? And you we're seen having talks with some drivers in the Belgium paddock?

A: As said earlier it is still uncertain. I would like to have also a race driver role, I love racing. It all depends of very many different things, we have to wait and see what happens in next few months.

Q: Steve, after such a strong first season for you and for the team, you must be very optimistic for the 2005 season?

A: Definitely. I had a slow start to the season in regards to race pace, where i had a throttle problem for the first 5 or so races & also lost 6 pts at Monaco, so it could have been even closer in the driver's standings, but it's my first year & i have to say i'm very happy with how it's all gone & i look forward to starting the new season a lot stronger.

Q: Steve, what are your expectations with the remaining races of this season?

A: Just keep doing what i've been doing the last few races & you never know what can be the outcome. We have a great package which i believe we can hopefully get a few more wins, but we have to hope that Mikko runs into a few problems & i obviously have to win a few with & hope other driver's take points away from him.

Q: Kari, the team announced that you will have a new chassis here at Monza, what is the story behind that?

A: I have had some very poor race performances in the past, first at Hungary and now at Belgium. My car just has lost the consitency if you know what I mean. The feeling with the car changes suddenly and I just can't push 110% with car like that. Hope the new chassis makes the difference.

Q: Steve, What are the things that have made FinOz package so strong in last few races?

A: I guess it's been all about working on a good race set-up. We have managed to get everything out of the car at Hungary & Belgium & consistency with the tyres over long runs has been great.

Q: Question to all: Before the season started, could anyone of you even imagine that you will be so strong and competitive as a team during the whole season so far?

Steve: Not at all. I said at the beginning of the season that our goal is to be in the top 5 of the constructor's & driver's standings & we have so far done an excellent job to be 2nd in both standings. So it's a bit of surprise for us & also a big boost for myself, to be only 14 points away from 1st in the driver's standings.

Kari: as Steve said our target was to get into podium this year, have good one-off's at qual and races and be regulary on the points and end up in top-5 on constructor's champ. That was our target so we have done way better than that which i'm very proud and happy for the team. Whole team has worked very hard whole time and this is the result of that.

Juha: Well i knew that we would be strong, but even i couldnīt think that we would be this strong as we are at the moment.