February 05, 2002
The GPVWC Press caught up with Mapes-VO Team Managers Matt Maple and Peter van Oostende yesterday, pinning them down with some grilling questions!

Q:What attracted you to the GPVWC?

Maple: well to be honest it was Roaldo [Hernj Roaldo] that first pointed me into its direction. We spoke at length about the driving side of it and then it suddenly dawned on me "the management side of this league is the cows udders!"

[editor: I think he means he really likes the management aspect!]

So I signed up as soon as I could and begged dan for that last vacant spot.

Van Oostende: Well it was my co-manager, Matt Maple, who asked me to take a good look. I wasn't really interested in driving as I am driving and managing in 2 other leagues. When I saw what the managing part was all about I was very interested. It's the best championship for managers.

What sort of performance do you realistically expect to see from the 2002 Mapes-VO car?

Maples: Looking at the field we wont fool ourselves. There's so much talent out there its going to be impossible to tell. I wont make the same mistake BAR did and say we "as a new team" are going to come straight in and win races because not only is that stupid but means that we will have to carry that burden around all season. What I will say is that when Melbourne Qualifying comes around we WILL be there with the rest and battle for points from the go.

Van Oostende Well, although I'd love to see the car win races all the time, it wouldn't be very realistic. We know Honda is delivering a very good engine, but it still misses some horses to keep up with the top engines... But we will test a lot and we know the other Honda team, MAMA Racing is also really motivated, so with their help we can help Honda to find those horses. The chassis itself is very good, so we will definately be close to the top. I also think a top 5 position in the Championship for both drivers and constructors this year is very well possible.

What is going on behind the scenes at the Mapes-VO factory?

Maple: Am I at liberty to discuss that? OF COURSE I AM!!! ;) At the moment the engineers are really working there arses off to get a great car, its an in-house process of course because that way we get the most out of it when it looks beautiful. As far as other projects go we stayed very quiet recently but the car design was finished way ahead of schedule and we're on task and running like clockwork as they say.

Van Oostende: Well we have a huge amount of staff who are actually working 24/7 in shifts now to finish the car as soon as possible, so testing can be started really soon. We will need the kilometers.

What made you both decide to team up as 'joint managers' for the 2002 season?

Maple: Tough question. Well to be honest I am very busy in life with GP3 and other things, so its hard to do so much management work alone in my case. I wanted to bring in a second partner to the team, someone with experience, someone I got along with well and at the end of the day someone I knew I could rely on through thick and thin to get the job done. Unfortunately I couldnt find anyone like that so I took peter on instead! On a serious note Peter matches all the above criteria and once I pursuaded him to come aboard I felt sure that we would function well.

Van Oostende: Well I already told you that Matt pointed this league out to me and wanted me to help him. After a good look I decided to join him. And the cooperation is going really smoothly. So it was actually Matt's call.

Have you been in contact with any drivers yet?

Maple: Of course we won't name ANY names but yes we have spoken to some drivers of course. Some news was better than others but I can assure you once the day comes around Mapes-VO will have one of the strongest driver packages on the grid.

Van Oostende: Matt is doing the driver signing part. But talks are going very smoothly. I guess my happy face gives something away, doesn't it?

Besides Mapes-VO!...which team do you think is most likely to win the 2002 Championship?

Maple: I cant really answer that. Of course I would like to say us but does anyone really know who can win at this point? My answer would be no and because of this I love my neck to much to stick it out that far on the line just to get it chopped off! Some general comments I will give.. Ferrari and BMW are undoubtably strong engines along with Honda which I believe to be a big outsider and underated so far. We will see at Melbourne who is good and who is not.

Van Oostende: Well, like I said, we lack some horses to the top engines, which are Ferrari and BMW, so Jonk GP, KRB and Hernj-Roaldo sre in the best positions at this time. And I think Hernj-Roado is most likely to take the championship because of the experience the team has in other leagues. But we won't rest ever to just let them take it, we're really motivated!

Similarly, which team/s do you think will struggle in the 2002 Championship

Maple: No Commment! It's really not my place to say who will not do well, its up to the track to show us that and as far as i am concerned as we stand we are all winners with no strugglers.... yet.

Van Oostende: Well it wouldn't be nice to think badly on teams, but I think Dizzo and Mommark will have a very hard time this year. They will need loads of testing to be able to follow the rest of the field.

A very interesting and amusing view then.

Mapes-VO are obviously highly motivated and highly ambitious, whilst remaining cool and realistic...which is always a good thing!

This team will fare well in 2002..all the current signs bode well for a good season...

It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the battle with MaMa Racing...who will be running the same spec. Honda engines at the start of the season.

Roll on Melbourne!!