12 questions Sami-Matti Trogen
16-year-old Sami-Matti Trogen drove last year formula in F4 NEZ and F4 Spain series. For season 2018 he moved back to his own sport. This year he has droven three differend rallycross series and in addition has also participated in FinRx series with a Crosskart Xtrem car. At this point, there is only three competitions left of the season. As a interview we are asking Sami-Matti’s toughts of last season and of his future plans.
12 questions 17.9.2018
1. What are you doing at the moment?
- I am at school in the Mäkelänrinne sport school.
2. You have had a busy season. There has been tens of foreing tests and competitions. How does going to school and doing sports fit together, do you need to do lot of independend studying?
- It contains quite a lot of independend studying, but fortunately we have adjustable teachers and there is no worrying I wouldn’t get permissions for my competition trips. I always try to do school work during travelling.
3. What is attracting in motorsports?
- I like driving. It’s always nice to drive, it doesn’t matter which car it is. Of course I also have always liked competiting.
4. Last year you drove with formulas and this year in rallycross. How do you see the improvement, was the season in formulas useful?
- It was very useful for this season. There was lots of kilometres last year, sometimes too much. I believe it has been a huge help for this season. At least driving lines are now more developed and my break using has been better and it has came during formulas.
5. How would you describe RX Academy?
- RX Academy is a great way to start with rallycross. There you will learn everything about what it takes to be a professional driver. The physical training, mental coaching and driving coaching belongs essentially to Academy. Driving coaches and mental coaches are really great.
6. How about your team Set Promotion?
- It is very nice to drive with Set Promotion, mechanics are nice and the team has a positive atmosphere. They have professional engineers and spotters. I have liked the team very much and the goal is to drive with them next year.
7. How would you comment this season, what has been the highlight?
- The start of the season was pretty difficult, there was a lot of technical issues and bad luck. But of course there was some improvement to do with driving with RX2 car. For Canadas RX2 race I got a new car. That race went without problems and I ended up placing fifth. At the next race I was second and that is the highlight of this year. In RX Academy the start of the season was pretty okay, I was second in the first two races of the season. Also the win in Kouvola was great because I has lots of sponsors out there watching.
8. How do you take care of your mental and physical health at the time?
- At the time I do only jogging as much as can and have time to. I meet with my physical coach Juha Koivuporras at least once a week. Sometimes we do mental training with Tomas Siltanen.
9. Do you have fans/how you keep in touch with them?
- With some I keep in touch with social media and some come in races to see me.
10. You have 33 sponsors, what would you like to tell about them?
- I am very grateful for all my sponsors from their support. It has been awesome to have so many sponsors supporting me in so many competitions.
11. How are you going to proceed in your career, what are your goals as a motorsport driver and how are you seeing your career path?
- At the moment the whole investment is in rallycross. As a goal I have to get a professional place in rallycross in 2-3 years, but the time will show what is my final place. Good thing is that we have lots of time.
12. What is your goal for the rest of the season?
- To win the last race of RX Academy and of course to win the series. A place in final in RX2 series race in South-Africa.