Emma Kimiläinen is preparing for a new challenge in a completely new sport.
Emma Kimiläinen answers a video call from a sunny beach in Saudi Arabia.
Or the assumption is that the weather is sunny, because there is no view of Finland at all from Jeddah. Kimiläinen is on a private beach with strict rules.
– The cameras are covered here, and you are not allowed to take pictures. There is a separate staff here to monitor the stickers in front of the cameras. They are accurate as hell, says the driver.
Kimiläinen is having a day off before the tests of the F1 boat series E1 Series begin. The season starts on the 2nd-3rd. February.
For this season, the Finn made it to the Team Brady team of the E1 Series, whose owner is an NFL legend Tom Brady. The impression of the famous stable is great so far.
– I am completely right in the team when they come up with all the nice activities for every day: dance, water jetting and wave surfing, Kimiläinen laughs.
Tom on the phone
All-time NFL player Tom Brady is still hungry for more wins. PDO
Kimiläinen has not yet met Brady face to face. However, he has spoken with the Yankee icon on the phone.
– He has welcomed me to the team. He said it’s great to have you on board and welcome to the team. Basic introductions, the driver describes.
When the driver selections were made, Brady clearly emphasized to the team’s operative management what kind of names he was looking for. The management also conveyed that message to Kimiläinen when they hired him.
– They told me that Tom only wants winners. It doesn’t matter where it comes from and how many followers there are, he just has to win.
– Based on that, they apparently chose someone from our country. That there is no pressure for the first games! Let’s hope I can live up to expectations, Kimiläinen grumbles.
Brady will show up for some of the season’s games, but he won’t be coming to Jeddah, for example. The calendar of the multiple Super Bowl winner is really full, even in his sports pension.
Otherwise, Team Brady’s operations are largely in the hands of other people.
– The team around Brady is perfect hands-on watching the brand. Team leaders and engineers then do work separately on the operational side and report to him, Kimiläinen explains.
A joke to the boss
Brady’s team has a happy and relaxed atmosphere. That’s what Kimiläinen likes.
The hierarchy is not too strict, and even the team manager Ben King has already become the target of Finnish banter in the waters of Jeddah.
– Ben sprayed the water on me with the jet ski, so I dropped him from a banana mattress when we were hanging behind the boat. He stayed along the way. Payback timeKimiläinen is leaning.
The team’s second driver is Welsh Sam Coleman, who has previous experience in racing boat series. Kimiläinen describes his teammate as a precise, analytical and social type.
Like Kimiläinen, many of the drivers of the E1 Series are just debutants in the cockpit of the boat. They have practiced the sport hard. Drivers have been teased from, among other things, the world of track driving, rallying and jet skis.
E1 organized a “training camp” for new drivers, but even there they drove with different equipment than in the races. At the time, there was a motorboat below, while at the start of the season, they raced with the all-electric RaceBird outboard.
– All the things he had just learned about motor boating, he suddenly had to put them in reverse. But it’s terribly logical. It’s based on gut feel, like all other driving, Kimiläinen describes.
The salary is running
Emma Kimiläinen, 34, has experienced the trials of many motorsport series. Photo in W-series overalls. PDO
The big money moves in the E1 Series, such as Brady, Sergio Perez, Rafael Nadal, Didier Drogba and Steve Aoki can be deduced from such celebrity investors.
Kimiläinen also earns comfortably from driving.
– Yes, I can still do my job well. And so it should be. The starting point is that as a professional athlete you do things as a profession, he says.
The E1 Series is Kimiläinen’s main racing series this season, but he also continues to work as an F1 expert for Finland’s Viaplay and does speaking gigs on the side.
In addition, the Finnish cannon was seen behind the wheel of a touring car in the Swedish STCC series. He was supposed to drive STCC already last season, but the all-electric series never started due to a lack of components.
– According to all logic, you should be able to ride that season. I have to hope that not too many races overlap with E1.
Kimiläinen’s goal is to drive in the E1 Series “in the long term”. The demand for the new racing series has been huge, so drivers will continue to be needed.
– The CEO of E1 said that the second season of the series has already been locked, even though the first season hasn’t even started yet. The demand is so terrible, says Kimiläinen.
Tom Brady demands a lot, but the team has a relaxed atmosphere. PDO