Jorge Viegas, President of the FIM: “Finland is a country with a lot of tradition in motorsport. It’s on the way, I have been in this position, managing works on a circuit in my country 20 years ago, so I know what it feels like to have journalists coming, Dorna and the FIM coming…I know how it feels! But everything is going well, and I think it’s a privilege to be here for the first time.”
Tapio Nevala, President of the Finnish Motorcycle Federation: “It’s a big dream to have MotoGP bikes in Finland, my heart has been pounding. It’s very important for us for Finnish motorsport. A MotoGP race is important for our sport and for Nordic motorsport, as well as it being important for this whole area.”
Timo Pohjola, KymiRing Circuit Director: “We continue the work on infrastructure, we don’t have green on the circuit at the moment so we’ll raise the standard of the facility. A lot of work needs to be done, we have one year to do everything but the most important thing is that for safety reasons, especially, that we can have the test here. Because after that we know exactly where we will have everything like the curbs. So that’s important for us but also for the teams, that’s the meaning of testing. But overall I’m very happy, it’s been a long journey and I know many of you will recognise these words from a driver once: ‘Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing!’”
Aki Ajo, Ajo Motorsport: "We've been dreaming for years about this, to have this kind of track and to have the chance to have a MotoGP race in Finland. It was a special feeling for me this morning that I woke up in my own bed before a MotoGP test, which doesn't happen very often! But seriously, it's really important to have first track action here, now is the time to see what they need to do to finalise everything here so we can have a great race."
Carlos Ezpeleta, Senior Sporting Director at Dorna Sports: “I visited for the first time with Franco Uncini a few years ago and honestly, it’s a great place and I have to congratulate everyone for the work they’ve done because it’s very impressive that we have bikes on track today. I know these past months have been hard for them and I must congratulate them because the job they’ve done is of a high standard. We’re very happy to have Finland back on the calendar, it’s one of the countries with a lot of history in motorsport as has been said, and we know that the requirements for a MotoGP track are very high, both on track and off, and the plan is to accommodate all of them so we’re very happy.”
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