Emma Kimiläinen is completing a license that allows driving in fully electric F1 series boats. However, it still does not guarantee a stable place. The series wants to be a “testing ground for electrical technologies.”
Made a long career in motor sports Emma Kimiläinen suddenly jump into a completely new sport.
Kimiläinen, 34, last competed in the women’s formula series in the W Series. However, last season was left unfinished and this year the series was not run at all due to financial problems.
Read also: The women’s formula series collapsed due to lack of money – upset Emma Kimiläinen opens up about the meaning of the series: “It really didn’t fail”
Now Kimiläinen is heading to the water. He is involved in the driver academy of the new all-electric F1 boat series E1 Series, where he is being trained as a boat pilot.
This fall, Kimiläinen is also one of the contestants in the Dancing with the Stars program. He told AKK-Motorsport in the interviewthat he will leave for the last E1 Series training days in Milan right after the dance program finale.
In training, Kimiläinen still has to specialize in the E1 series RaceBird racing rig.
There are quite a few world stars behind the new boat racing series. The team owners include one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Rafael NadalRed Bull’s F1 driver Sergio Perezex-football goalie Didier Drogba and an icon of Yankee football Tom Brady.
In addition, there is an American DJ and producer Steve Aoki and an Indian who is one of the biggest cricket stars in the world Virat Kohli. The cricketing great has the third most social media followers of any sportsperson, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s after.
– A very interesting project and a lot of fun when I’m seasick. On the other hand, when you drive yourself, you don’t feel bad in the same way, Kimiläinen reflects in AKK’s press release.
It is still not at all certain that Kimiläinen would get into the new series as a race driver. According to Kimiläinen, the drivers’ choices are always also a certain kind of politics.
– The teams choose the drivers. As a Finn, am I interesting enough? Just have to wait and see what happens. And I still have to finish that license with honor before I could even be hired, Kimiläinen stated in the press release.
Below is Sportliv’s episode Emma Kimiläinen from 2020.
This is what this series is all about
Racing series according to the website it is the first all-electric motorboat championship series that operates under the UIM (Union Internationale Motonautique), the international umbrella organization for racing motorboats.
There are currently seven teams participating in the series, some of which are named after their owners: Team Nadal, Team Brady and so on. According to the website, the aim is for at least ten teams to participate in the racing series. According to the rules, each stable’s driver line-up must have both a woman and a man.
The top speed of the RaceBird boat is said to be 93 kilometers per hour and the top power is 150 kilowatts.
On the pages of the series, the racing boat is described as “revolutionary”. In the series, the drivers fly above the water in an “innovative hydrofoil”. It was designed by a Norwegian Sophie Horne and architect and engineer Brunello Acampora.
The founders of the series are Spanish Alejandro Agag and Italian Rodi Basso.
Agag is considered a “pioneer of electric motorsport”, and he has previously worked in motorsport series, such as the CEO of the Formula E series.
Basso has done his thesis for Nasa, worked as an aerospace engineer and in motor sports for, among others, Ferrari and Red Bull.
According to its website, the E1 Series is inspired by the success of other forms of eSports and how they work to accelerate sustainable technologies. The goal of the founders of the series is to try to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from future leisure boats.
– E1 is a testing ground for electric technologies and it is also committed to creating positive effects in addition to racing, the series’ website advertises.
The series starts with the Jeddah GP in Saudi Arabia on the 2nd-3rd. February 2024.