December 01, 2004
After some heavy speculation about who will partner Steve Elecenvski in 2005 season FinOz Racing finally announced the driver.

?Welcome to FinOz Press Conference. Shortly we will announce our 2nd race driver for 2005 season but before that short announcement about the progress of new FO-005 car.

Juha Tanskanen will have the honors to do first shakedown laps on Friday 3rd of December at Silverstone. Official launch of the new car will be on late January or early February. The first test car will be all white without any sponsor logos and uses old 2004 spec Ferrari customer engine.

But now for the actual reason of our press conference... FinOz Racing is proud to announce Matt Maple will be joining the team for 2005 season. Matt will be our 2nd race driver driving car #4 and Steve Elencevski will be driving car #3. Kari Koski will be team stand-in driver if Steve or Matt is unable to participate to the racing weekend. Also Juha Tanskanen will remain in team as Test driver.?


2005 FinOz Racing Line-Up:

Race drivers:
- Steve Elencevski
- Matt Maple

Test drivers / Stand-in drivers:
- Juha Tanskanen
- Kari Koski

Reporters had also chance to ask few questions first from Kari Koski and after that it was Matt Maple?s turn to answer some questions.

For Kari:

Q: Matt had a bad season in 2004, what made you want to sign him for 2005?
A: We have been looking new driver to join the team alongside Steve for sometime now and maybe only looking Matt's this years results he hasn't had good year as you said but looking his career in generally he has been constantly getting faster and faster. When he gets all the peaces together I think he will be winner and that is just what we were looking for.

Q: What does the team expect from Matt in 2005?
A: We expect him to do his job, which is bring the car home and score as many points as possible to help the team to fight over Constructors Championship in 2005. Podiums, poles and wins are always welcomed ;)

Q: How do you think Matt will work with Steve in 2005?
A: I believe they will work very well together. I think they can learn something from each other and also push the teammate to go back on track and do even faster lap time.

Q: Will team give drivers equal chances of winning or will there be number 1 and number 2 drivers in the team?
A: At the start of the season only team order will be not to take each other out in the race. I don?t see any point to support more other driver than other. Of course at the end of the season if there is situation either one of our drivers is fighting for world championship and other is out of the fight, then we might considering to give latest parts and make the tactics to help out in the title hunt. But as we all know the direct team orders are not allowed on track.

Questions for Matt Maple:

Q: What was the key reasons behind signing for FinOz?
A: FinOz are a great team, they are very new and its going to be good fun working with them, the main reason I joined is to work with kari who I have known for a very long time, also working with steve will be great and hopefully I can learn a lot from him in the coming season - aside from all that I need something to re-ignite my career in racing and I think this will provide the motivation for that!

Q: What do you expect in 2005?
A: I learned this season not to expect anything, because then you will be disappointed, but I know I will try very hard in 2005 to make a great season and challenge for the constructors title with the team, I think we have a good chance its going to be very exciting battling with Mapes-VO and Phoenix who I see as two very strong teams for 2005 also, along with us of course ;-)

Q: Will you see yourself as a number two driver? or what ...
A: I dont think in this team there are orders are anything, we are both going to have the same equipment and hopefully be able to make as good results as each other, obviously steve is a very fast driver but it will be a challenge to see if I can keep up with him, and if not, how close I can get! im looking forward to that!

Q: Finally any comments on 2004 as a season whole?
A: I think its been a great year for F1VWC, Andy has done a stella job running the league and I think we all owe him a lot of grattitude, his work has been very much appreciated and I'm sure he knows that, this year a lot of people learned a lot, there were lots of ups and downs and I think its made for an even better 2005 where we will have a great lineup and very competitive teams and drivers, I personally cant wait, better wait for the race in brazil yet though to see who will win the title and I wish all drivers the best of luck and good rest in the winter!