Focus: Toni Gardemeister's co-driver.

Toni Gardemeister's co-driver, Tomi Tuominen: Home story

Feature courtesy of the Suzuki World Rally Team

Q:
How would you describe yourself in two sentences?

Tomi Tuominen:
I'm full of power 24 hours a day, but maybe I have too much power 20 hours of those.

Q:
What is your favourite place in this house? (Note: The interview took place on Tomi's terrace.)

TT:
I love the sun, I love when it's warm, and I love to be outside. Although I live in Finland I hate winter and snow. The most important thing for me is that we have a nice place here for our daughter. She can play around here. For me personally the best thing about the terrace is that we can make food on the grill. That's my favourite hobby.

Q:
Who is the most important person in your life?

TT:
I have two most important people: my wife and my daughter. They are wonderful people and they give me a lot of power and positive energy. It would be impossible to replace them.

Q:
What is your favourite destination?

TT:
My favourite destination is home. It's always nice to go to the rallies, but I always love the day when I come back. Naturally I enjoy my time during the rally, but afterwards I really love to go to the plane, arrive in Helsinki and take my car, because I know I have only 45 minutes to go then. This house and this area are very important to me.

Q:
What is the main difference between the WRC pilot and the private Tomi Tuominen?

TT:
That's very difficult to say for me, but I think that when I'm at rallies, I'm a little bit different, in the way that I always have so much energy there. When I go to rallies I don't have to try, I just want to give everything 120 percent there. When something goes wrong, I can explode very easily. That's just because I'm concentrating so much for that week and I'm so eager to do my job. That's my personality there. When the rally is over, everything goes away. Actually when the rally is finished, I always get a huge headache, because all the adrenalin drains from my blood. That's why I'm so different there. When I'm doing my other hobbies, like for example I have a gig with my band, that has nothing to do with the co-driver Tomi. I can maybe be two or three people together in one.

Q:
Where do you see yourself in five years time?

TT:
I don't know. It is hard to say where I see myself in five years. Maybe I see myself still in the WRC, maybe not. I've already done many things in my life, although I'm just 36 years old. I hope that I will still be with my family. My daughter will be 12 then and heading into the difficult years. I hope that my family and I are okay and that I can do the job that I love. At the moment that is being a co-driver in the WRC.

Tomi's residence

Lohja or Lojo in Swedish is a town and municipality of Finland. It's part of the Uusimaa Region. The municipality is bilingual, although it isn't required by law, with a majority of Finnish and a minority of Swedish speakers. Lohja has been a focal point for the population and economy of Western Uusimaa since the early 14th century. Lohja was already known as a trading centre during the Middle Ages. The local inhabitants were among the pioneers of the Finnish mining and construction material industries. By Finnish standards, Lohja has long-established traditions in horticulture and especially in market gardening. These traditions are represented by the symbols of present-day Lohja: a limestone and an apple.

Lohja is advantageously located near the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and it benefits from a good road network. It takes less than an hour to drive from Helsinki to Lohja.

The landscape of Lohja is characterized by manors and gardens. The Lohja area is divided by the ridge Lohja, which forms a watershed for the largest lake system of Southern Finland, Lake Lohja.

County: Lohja
Province: Southern Finland
Coordinates: 60? 15? 0 N, 24? 4? 0 E
Area: 356.24 km?
Population: 37,133
Density: 133.1/km?
Website: www.lohja.fi

Additional quotes

"My dream has always been to be in a rock band. In 2005 my cousin called and asked me if we want to put a band together just for fun. He's out in the meantime for health reasons, but he introduced me to Aki (Aki R?ty, bass guitar) and Jaakko (Jaakko J?rvinen, guitar). I met them, and one week later we had a first gig together. After that we had a discussion about how we can go on, and here we are now. All other band members except myself are professional musicians. Actually I could live on that, because it's so much fun, but I think it will stay my hobby. For these guys behind me it's nice to be in the band, because normally they play their own songs, but in Fidel Bistro we only play cover songs everybody knows. We have a great time together. Their bands are actually very well known in Finland. Jaakkos Band is Muusa, Aki plays guitar for Kardia, a Crunch Rock band. We usually have 5-10 gigs per year, because the professional players are very busy. But we do find time to play together sometimes."

"I was born in 1971. At that time Elvis was still quite a big star. 'Tutti Frutti' was probably the first rock song I heard when I was a little guy. When I was about ten years old, I had a band together with some friends. I made instruments from plastic, even the table, anything. Rock music has always been close to my heart, but it's not the only music I listen to. I also like slow music; my range is very wide. My favorite bands are of course Kardia and Muusa. Actually it's not easy for me to pick. I don't have an idol. There are a lot of singers who are very good. Maybe, if I have to change my life one day, there'll be a few guys who would change their life with me, but I don't want to name them. However, I'm almost 37, so I don't have to have any idols anymore. This is just a hobby."

"Of course I spend a lot of time with my family, especially with my daughter, go to the zoo, go on vacations with my wife, go to the lake to swim. Basically we follow our daughter. She thinks that she can swim, although she cannot, so we have to always stay close to her."

"I run a lot and sometimes I do mountain biking. This is actually quite dangerous; I broke my hand a few years ago. I cook a lot and do normal things. I love the same kind of things that normal people do. But sports are not that important to me. I do them when I want to. I want to feel good but I don't do them, because I have to. If I like to run, I go. If I don't, I don't."

"In wintertime I like to play ice hockey. Our team Zoom is based in Helsinki. We play twice a week, Tuesday and Friday mornings. The team members come from television and theater and are well known in Finland but when we play ice hockey, none of them is a star. Then we're just players. This is my favourite hobby. I am a goal keeper there. I have always been a goal keeper, even when I played soccer for 12 or 13 years. Maybe I should try basketball or volleyball, because they have no goal keepers. That might be a change."

Feature courtesy of the Suzuki World Rally Team