Jeddah Corniche Circuit

SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX

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September 25, 2004
An elated Kieran Ryan (SCUM); Mikko Jakonen (Mapes-VO) and Steve Elencevski (FinOz) talked to stand-in Pit Reporter Andy Graydon following a brilliant race.

Winner ? Kieran Ryan (SCUM - Holden)

Kieran, congratulations on your first ever win in the GPVWC/F1VWC! How does it feel to be finally top of the Podium after nearly 3 years of racing in both the series?

''It feels like a dream I need to awaken from! But no seriously it's just an amazing thing for me to do. I would never have thought I could win at Monza anyway, a track I openly hate so that just made it really unbelievable. I mean this is my 28th grand prix and I think I must be the most experienced driver in this league not to have won a race so finally to do it for my first race with SCUM aswell is trully awe inspiring for me and the team they just did a superb job all weekend and I'm just as happy as they are, they deserve it too. They've had a difficult season with every point up to this grand prix bar Malaysia, being scored by the champion Shiro, so I'm just glad to help them along the way, and in turn I've helped them up to 5th in the Constructors which will enable them to keep an option on Holden for 2005.

The damp weather in the early laps led to lots of overtaking, but eventually it became clear that you and Mikko and Steve were the class of the field. But you seemed to be biding your time behind Mikko until lap 48. With 5 laps to go you started to make your move. Tell us about laps 49 to 51, when you and Mikko swapped positions in a really tough battle?

"That was interesting. I had made a good start and from lap 13 or so onwards I was racing right up there with Mikko keeping a close eye on him. We've been team mates back in 2002 so we know each other's tricks, we were on similar strategys so it was just a matter of who could go faster than the other. I just pushed like hell through each stint. I had some difficulty on my 2nd stint, the car felt a little hard to drive and I was wearing the tyres a little too much with that my braking zones had to be altered so I was surprised I was keeping up so well as I did.

Towards the end of the race, it was just Mikko and myself to dispute the race but I had enough of following him and I set the fastest lap of the race on lap 44 and pulled nearly a second back on him to get the gap down to just a second. On lap 49, I outbreaked him into the first chicane but I ran a little wide and for that lap he kept me honest and he repassed me just after we had crossed the line. But he made an error into Ascari and I had enough momentum and sheer luck to repass him and take back the lead and then I just concentrated on not making any errors and on lap 53 I knew I could do it.

I radioed into the pits to confirm I was in P1 and that it was the last lap and they confirmed so it was just amazing to see the guys up on the pitwall and cheer with me."

It?s your first race for the SCUM team, and I personally reckon that getting a kiss from Kylie Minogue at your signing up party in the Monza paddock has worked wonders for your confidence (driving confidence that is)! But seriously, have the SCUM boys scraped themselves off the ceiling yet? They must think all their Christmases have come at once!

"Christmas has come early for them. It's been a hard season for the team with a best being some 3rd places from the current champion Shiro, so I'm delighted to have gotten them a victory I think they started to forget what it was like to win but they showed me how to celebrate it! The pitstops I must admitt was just incredable sub 6 seconds at times was so fast it enabled me to keep pushing on and on.

I must thank some people though for their encouragment through the year. MMC have been good friends of mine since the start of the season, when we worked closely together, and I was sad to see both Ryan retire after his pole and Paul too soon after. Simsoa for giving me the start to the season that could catapult me in the standings, Miguel from MMRT for releasing me, which he's regretting I'm sure! And finally SCUM themselves for giving me the chance to show I can win and I will win again in the near furture. This win comes in good time with my deal with Phoenix for next year in place I should hope I can once again challange for the championship like in 2002."

With 3 races left to the end of the season what tracks will suit you? And what outlook have you got for 2005 with Phoenix F1?

"I love France! Magny-Course is a strange track to say the least but I drove for a French team for 5 years in the late 90's so I know this track well and it suits me. Back in 2002 I lost out to Mikko here, in a similar race long duel like today where I spun towards the end losing my lead, but I'll make sure that doesn't happen again! I'll be gunning for another pole and maybe another victory, you never know. After that, we head to Suzuka Japan and I'll return to my favourite track on the calender. It's turning corners that lead into one another, the famous cross over and final chicane are among my favourite corners aswell as 130R so I look forward to that challange once again. Brazil was never a track that really suited me but I did achieve 3rd back in 2002 after a difficult weekend so if I can repeat that there I'll be happy; and if I retain my 4th in the Drivers Championship that'll be my goals achieved for 2004.

For 2005, I'm just excited at that challenge. I've driven for the team back in US and Hungary and there was a real sense of commitment there and with Jason joining me for 2005 I think the team will finally take that step up to challange the big guns for wins and maybe even a fight for the championship. I look forward to what the furure holds!''

2nd - Mikko Jakonen (Mapes-VO - Honda)

Mikko, a classic battle between you and Kieran, the likes of which we haven't seen since GPVWC 2002. You were under constant pressure from Kieran throughout the race. But we believe that the Bridgestone tyres that SCUM had were far better then your Michelins. Did you suffer with tyre problems in your last stint, or was it just a great driving battle we saw between you and Kieran?

"It really was a fierce battle, I think we never were more than 2 seconds apart during the whole race. I think too that the tyres were the decisive factor, the track was a bit too cold for our choice of Michelins and the damp parts of the track didn't make things easier. Kieran made the last pitstop a couple of laps later than me and I think that gave him the advantage in the end, he had fresher tyres in the last few laps. We overtook each other on the main straight on laps 49 and 50 and went a few laps really side by side, but he had a slight advantage and as I couldn't risk the points I was going to gain on Steve I had to let him go. It was a claasy fight and he deserves his victory."

I know you're happy that Kieran has finally won a race (having been team-mates at Mapes-VO in 2002), but you must be very pleased to see Steve Elencevski finish behind you today?

"Yeah that was my main agenda as Scott didnt' race, I really needed to turn the tide of Steve catching up on me and I'm very pleased to have done that. It's not a very good feeling ever to lose the victory by one second (compare to Canada this year), but I'm really happy it was Kieran and that I could keep Steve behind. It was very important for the championships and set the tone for the reamining races I hope."

It's getting closer to the Mapes-VO team clinching their third consecutive Constructors title, and Peter van Oostende gaining points in his first race since has helped limit the inroads made by the FinOz team. But the gap in the Driver's Championship is now up to 16 points. How competitive do you see yourself at the remaining 3 Grand Prix?

"Yeah, we need to score 6 points more than FinOz to secure the Contructors Championship in the next race. It would be great if we could do that. I haven't had any breakdowns this year, and I think that can be credited to our experience and long relationship with Honda, we know what we can do with the machinery without taking unnecessary risks. We just have to hope we can keep the record untainted in the remaining races also. If so, I feel the 16 points should be quite enough, I don't think I would have to give out more than 5 points to Steve in a race in any case. But anything is still possible, we'll just have to see how it goes and make sure we do our best. But I think our position is quite good right now.

All the remaining races are quite challenging, in Magny-Cours I had a technical breakdown last year, so we don't have as much data as we'd like. Japan is a really technical track but I would think we should get a good performance there with Honda especially on their home grand prix. Brazil is an interesting place to end the season, the weather could very well play some tricks, but I like the track and think we should be competitive there.

Monza was a power circuit which suited us quite well, it didn't feel easy at all but this result was comforting, it showed that the team is still on the edge and that we can fight for victories as well as anyone. I think our experience will reward us with the Constructors Championship in the end, FinOz are still in their first year and I think they still have a lot to learn."

It seems you will have yet another teammate next race, how do you feel about that?

"That's quite ok with me, Peter did a good job here, It was good to return to both cars scoring points, Juha did a good job in the previous races but he still needs some practise before driving for a top team. The team tells me the new signee is fast and promising, and I believe them. I haven't had a chance to talk to Zlatko but I believe we can get things running pretty quickly. Anyway, I have my own team of mechanics which do their job well in any case, and in the best case we'll find good synergy right away with the new guy and make things run even better. It'll be interesting again.

3rd ? Steve Elencevski (FinOz - Ferrari (c))

Steve, a great race. After the early mayhem on the damp track, the dry line left you in third position behind Mikko and Kieran. But you could never get quite on terms with these two guys. Did you have a dry set-up for the race, or was it a compromise bearing in mind the weather forecast when you Qualified on Saturday?

"It was an exciting race & i couldn't quite keep in touch with Mikko & Keiran. I did have a fully dry set-up which obviously made things harder in the first half of the race, especially at the braking point for Variante Del Roggia & the first Lesmo corner. I was losing about half a second per lap just in those 2 parts of the track.Had the track been dry from the start i'm sure we would have possibly won, so i'm a little disappointed."

Still, the Drivers Championship gap is still only 16 points. With three race left, you must now go for outright victory in all events and hope that Mikko either suffers a reliability issue OR that some of the Drivers take points off Mikko but not off you. Is this how you will approach the remaining races?

"The result here was not too good for myself as i had to finish ahead of Mikko & it has made things a lot harder now for the remaining 3 races. So it wasn't the result i was looking for. My only option is to drive as agressively as i can & go all out for wins & of course hope that Mikko has a mechanical problem."

A word for your team-mate Kari Koski? He finished a brilliant 4th from 14th on the grid having had a torrid time of late.

"Yes Kari did a brilliant job having finished 4th from 14th on the grid. The team decided to change his strategy midway through the race to a 2 stopper which worked out well. We have a 20 point lead over Eire in the Constructor's now, so we will be looking at consolidating that place with some strong points finishes in the last 3 events. I would like to add that it would be a dream start for our team in only our first year, if we accomplish this."