September 14, 2004
Hard times at Mapes-VO as they see their lead in both Championships slowly decreasing. The team was struggling in Spa as both drivers couldn't get the setups done properly. Mapes-VO only scored 5 points at the Belgian GP. Because of their good races Elencevski and Whiteman closed the gap a bit more to Drivers Championship leader Mikko Jakonen and both FinOz and EIRE came closer to Mapes-VO in the Constructors Championship. So there's no time to relax at Mapes-VO because both teams are sure to put the pressure on the "banana-squad".

It's beginning to look a lot like the GPVWC 2002 season when a new and underpowered team, Mapes-VO, managed to take both Championships and beat all the top teams. Mapes-VO will try everything not to let FinOz do that trick again.

Also the driver problems aren't over at Mapes-VO. Because after Juha Tanskanen this time it is manager Peter van Oostende himself taking the wheel of the 2nd Mapes-VO.

Free practice here at Monza has just finished and we found Mikko Jakonen walking around in the paddock and when asking him about his race at Spa-Francorchamps and the current situation in the championship he said:

"I anticipated a difficult weekend arriving at Spa, and that proved to be the case. Last time here in the Gold Cup 2003 we didn't do very well, and we were afraid that we'd have similar setup problems here as we did at Silverstone. We had very little practise time before the rain started, so we basically had to guess what kind of a setup to use for the race. Starting from P12 I did the best I could, the car wasn't so bad, but unfortunately not good enough, so I couldn't challenge even P3, making this the 2nd worst result of this year, after Silverstone. But we were partly expecting this. Elencevski and FinOz are doing alarmingly well, so we really need to focus on the remaining races to not let them do the unthinkable and take the Championship.

I really need to finish high on the podium and preferably beat Steve and Scott at least in some races. I think we should we stronger in the remaining races than in Spa though, the French GP is a bit of question mark but the team is confident that we can hold onto both Championships, it would be a tremendous disappointment if we couldn't do it."

Asked about the situation at EIRE, where the non-appearance of Whiteman seems to be the big rumour, Mikko would only say "we're not into playing mind games. I'll base my qualifying on going as quickly as I can and with the expectation that Scott will be on the grid. Until that doesn't happen, I won't believe anything else."

We also came across Peter van Oostende who was wearing a race suit during a Grand Prix weekend for the first time since Melbourne 2002. He also gave his view on things:

"Spa is a race we have to forget soon. Sure, a 4th position still gives us 5 points, but that's not enough to secure the Championships. We have a very strong car but in Spa nothing really seemed to work out correctly. The podium wasn't within our reach since the first time the cars rolled out onto the track. It has come as a big surprise that FinOz is doing such a great job. I know that Steve is extremely fast and Kari is a very strong driver as well, but what those guys can do with such an underpowered engine - incredible.

Mapes-VO was a little bit helped by problems with Scott's car at EIRE. They also remain a threat to Mapes-VO and we need to score a whole lot of points now. I'd really like to thank Juha for his job in the past 2 races and although he didn't managed to score points, he finished both races and made sure Mapes-VO had a full line-up during those 2 races. Juha himself got the experience that will help him in his further career in this league. Just look, he already secured a deal at MMRT.

We have a car that can do a great job here at Monza. Now we just need to get our setups right. I have serious problems with the Variante Della Roggia and that costs me a lot of time. I hope I can get it right before qualifying."

What about the rumour that Mapes-VO signed a rising star that will start testing right after Monza?

"Well, trust me, you'll see what he's capable of as soon as testing in Barcelona starts. More information will follow."