Kari Tiainen, Ludde Söderberg & Toni Eriksson: Ice 1 Racing Motocross Team
Abaixo uma entrevista que a Nicole traduziu com o sócio de Kimi na Ice 1 Racing Team, Kari Tiainen, além dos dois pilotos da equipe: Ludde Söderberg & Toni Eriksson.
Q: First I have to ask you that apparently the decision to found the team was made last summer - in a sauna - what did you really talk about there, Kari?
Kari: Well if you are at Tommi Mäkinen's place in Puuppola, you can bet that there was quite some blatting going on. (laughing) It was after Jyskälä and we were in the sauna and started talking a bit and that's from where it started.
Q: Was it after many sauna beers?
Kari: Heavens no, we were in the sauna in the daytime. But... of course it's okay to have a sauna beer on Sunday, isn't it?
Q: I'm sure. What was Kimi's motives behind funding this team?
Kari: I want to emphasize that this came straight out of love for the genre and I also belive that this is the case. He still has the urge for the genre although he lost himself with the four-wheelers which has been Finland's fortune of course but he has always been very interested in cross and drove always when possible. His career in F1 has probably put quite some brakes for him because you can't just do anything there, those team-contracts are quite strict. Now he is a more free man and he has already been driving with us.
Q: To the drivers: how big is it for you to be included in this Räikkönen's season?
Ludde: Well of course it is a big thing for me, it has always been my childhood dream to drive and this is a really great thing for the Finnish motocross. Earlier there were chances to go to the WC-serie, there has been many Finns, but it has gone a bit difficult for us these days. The strong teams are mainly from Central Europe and they have their own drivers who get to drive before the Finns so this is a really huge thing. I'm sure that many will get easier to the top after us.
Q: Do Finns now have a completely different thing to prove now?
Toni: Yes absolutely. Kimi did a fantastic thing when organising this for us by founding a team for us here in Finland and like Ludde said, Finnish motocross will get more visibility now. As for me I can now leave my job, I have been working as a car mechanic on the side until now and like I said I can leave those things and concentrate only on motocross. This is a big step in my development.
Q: I'm sure it is. Kari, I have to ask you straight since you are a team manager, just how big money are we talking about here? How much does it take to run a motocross team?
Kari: Oh, we have an agreement that we don't talk about the amount of money but I'm sure everybody understands that we are not talking about any small money since we are straight away driving a full WC-serie and there's 15 races including Brazil and USA so it does swallow quite a lot of money and there are 7 people of us working here too so it's a big team involving trucks and everything so that you don't have to be ashamed when going to the paddock. They have to be really top notch.
Q: What is Kimi Räikkönen's role in all this? Is he involved in practical things or is he the proud guy who follows how you do from far?
Kari: He will follow from far but he is really interested even in the smallest things and wants of course to know how things proceed and of course he has himself experience of team-stuff, although in a larger scale, but the matters are always pretty much the same.
Q: Now that the bike is here we should go and admire it. I actually made an agreement with Ludde that he would present it. So we have a motocross-bike here but what is it that makes it a motocross-bike?
Ludde: Well, it differs straight away from a street-bike by the suspension and with different kind of tyres and stuff. This is especially made for sand surface and there are no lights or things like that.
Q: Why?
Ludde: We usually drive during daytime and if we don't, the track has lights. We have racing numbers on the bike and a more efficient engine.
Q: How efficient? Can you compare it to some other bike for example?
Ludde: Hard to say... it's really efficient
Q: Here are some safety gear. These are for the knees, I recognise them.
Ludde: It covers our knees because knee-injuries are quite common in our genre, that's the neck support which has lately become very general because it spares from nasty neck- and spine-injuries and then there's the helmet of course.
Q: You are soon going to Spain for training. I wish you very good luck and thanks for coming here.
Fonte: MTV3/Dica: Miezicat/Tradução: Nicole
Beijinhos, Ludy
Q: First I have to ask you that apparently the decision to found the team was made last summer - in a sauna - what did you really talk about there, Kari?
Kari: Well if you are at Tommi Mäkinen's place in Puuppola, you can bet that there was quite some blatting going on. (laughing) It was after Jyskälä and we were in the sauna and started talking a bit and that's from where it started.
Q: Was it after many sauna beers?
Kari: Heavens no, we were in the sauna in the daytime. But... of course it's okay to have a sauna beer on Sunday, isn't it?
Q: I'm sure. What was Kimi's motives behind funding this team?
Kari: I want to emphasize that this came straight out of love for the genre and I also belive that this is the case. He still has the urge for the genre although he lost himself with the four-wheelers which has been Finland's fortune of course but he has always been very interested in cross and drove always when possible. His career in F1 has probably put quite some brakes for him because you can't just do anything there, those team-contracts are quite strict. Now he is a more free man and he has already been driving with us.
Q: To the drivers: how big is it for you to be included in this Räikkönen's season?
Ludde: Well of course it is a big thing for me, it has always been my childhood dream to drive and this is a really great thing for the Finnish motocross. Earlier there were chances to go to the WC-serie, there has been many Finns, but it has gone a bit difficult for us these days. The strong teams are mainly from Central Europe and they have their own drivers who get to drive before the Finns so this is a really huge thing. I'm sure that many will get easier to the top after us.
Q: Do Finns now have a completely different thing to prove now?
Toni: Yes absolutely. Kimi did a fantastic thing when organising this for us by founding a team for us here in Finland and like Ludde said, Finnish motocross will get more visibility now. As for me I can now leave my job, I have been working as a car mechanic on the side until now and like I said I can leave those things and concentrate only on motocross. This is a big step in my development.
Q: I'm sure it is. Kari, I have to ask you straight since you are a team manager, just how big money are we talking about here? How much does it take to run a motocross team?
Kari: Oh, we have an agreement that we don't talk about the amount of money but I'm sure everybody understands that we are not talking about any small money since we are straight away driving a full WC-serie and there's 15 races including Brazil and USA so it does swallow quite a lot of money and there are 7 people of us working here too so it's a big team involving trucks and everything so that you don't have to be ashamed when going to the paddock. They have to be really top notch.
Q: What is Kimi Räikkönen's role in all this? Is he involved in practical things or is he the proud guy who follows how you do from far?
Kari: He will follow from far but he is really interested even in the smallest things and wants of course to know how things proceed and of course he has himself experience of team-stuff, although in a larger scale, but the matters are always pretty much the same.
Q: Now that the bike is here we should go and admire it. I actually made an agreement with Ludde that he would present it. So we have a motocross-bike here but what is it that makes it a motocross-bike?
Ludde: Well, it differs straight away from a street-bike by the suspension and with different kind of tyres and stuff. This is especially made for sand surface and there are no lights or things like that.
Q: Why?
Ludde: We usually drive during daytime and if we don't, the track has lights. We have racing numbers on the bike and a more efficient engine.
Q: How efficient? Can you compare it to some other bike for example?
Ludde: Hard to say... it's really efficient
Q: Here are some safety gear. These are for the knees, I recognise them.
Ludde: It covers our knees because knee-injuries are quite common in our genre, that's the neck support which has lately become very general because it spares from nasty neck- and spine-injuries and then there's the helmet of course.
Q: You are soon going to Spain for training. I wish you very good luck and thanks for coming here.
Fonte: MTV3/Dica: Miezicat/Tradução: Nicole
Beijinhos, Ludy
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