Now it’s official. I’m competing in the W Series in season 2019!! It means a lot to me to be honest. I believe that no matter the gender, talent exist all over the world, but opportunities do not. Especially not the ones in the world of motorsport that aren’t somehow related to a financial background. W Series is a huge opportunity for us everyone who are involved. Now the real journey begins. The target is set, to win. 

” It was an intensive week at the Almeria race track but I enjoyed every second of it “

• SPV Racing signs Emma Kimiläinen for the Electric GT Series
• Swedish – Spanish racing team SPV Racing is the first team to be announced for the Electric GT inaugural season
• The Malaga-based team will field a two-car entry in the EGT Championship and will develop future racing talent by supporting young racers in the eSports virtual racing support series
• Emma Kimiläinen, Alvaro Fontes and Javier Martinez announced as development drivers as the team prepares for its electric racing debut
• SPV will receive their first Tesla Model S EGT P100D car later this year, ahead of the opening round in mid-2018
• The Electric GT Championship is the new zero-emissions motorsport category promoting sustainable mobility.
• For more information about SPV Racing please visit www.spv.racing

Thursday, November 23 2017, Malaga, Spain. SPV Racing has signed Finnish driver Emma Kimiläinen for the Electric GT series, initially focusing on the test and development program together with a Spanish driver Alvaro Fontes.

Emma Kimiläinen is a very accomplished driver at 28 years. She started with Go Karts at the age of 3 and has produced good results throughout her single seaters career. She has competed in Formula Ford, Radical, Formula Masters ADAC and Formula Palmer Audi racing series before switching over to touring cars  in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship (STCC), where she competed from 2014 until the end of 2016 with several podium finishes.

In 2017 Emma has competed in the V8 Thunder Cars NEZ Championship were she was 4th overall with one win, two podiums and two pole positions. Emma is also a commentator for F1 and E-Motorsport in Finnish television.

SPV Racing CEO Raul Garcia said “We are very happy to have Emma joining us, she has a very good track record and did a good test in the Tesla Model S P85 car at Pau in France, where she demonstrated her ability to understand the car and the electric propulsion system. Emma was adjusting her driving style to maximize the performance of the car.

We look forward to start testing the new Tesla P100DL with Emma and Alvaro early 2018, the new car will have almost twice as much power, racing brakes and a new suspension system.”

SPV Racing will field two cars in the Electric GT Championship in a multi-year agreement, while also fielding an entry in the eSports support series to develop new racing talent.

SPV Racing was formed through a partnership between Swedish Team Spirit Racing, owned by Lars GV Lindberg, and SPV Motorsport owned by Raul Garcia. The team is currently racing in the European LeMans Series and the Le Mans Cup, with the aim of making its 24 Hours of Le Mans debut in 2019.

Spanish driver Alvaro Fontes is a veteran of GT racing, with over 255 race starts to his name. He has previously participated in the Hyundai Coupé Cup, Seat Super Cup, Spanish GT Championship, Radical European Masters and the European LeMans Series. 

SPV’s ambition to develop young talent is also appearing as they recruit a Spanish eSports and single-seater racer Javier Martinez as a development driver for Electric GT’s eSports support series.

Lars Lindberg, SPV Racing Team Manager said: “We are so proud to be the first team to officially announce an entry to the Electric GT Championship. We are excited about this new chapter for our team as we take on the challenge of racing with the electric power.
 
“From a pure racing perspective, we have a lot to learn with the Tesla. So, we are proud that we have such a strong driver line-up to assist with our development on and off the track. We believe that we are putting our best foot forward and hope to make a strong start in our first season. 
 
We’re proud of the experience in our team, having raced all over the world in multiple categories. We are also looking forward to using Electric GT as an opportunity to develop new racing talent and we believe that the eSports Championship will be a good testing ground for racing stars of the future.”

I did my Rallycross debut with RX Academy in the end of September in Kouvola, Finland.

It was the final round of the RX Academy championship and it was a huge challenge for me.

When I went to the track for some test driving 3 days before the actual race day, I had no idea how to handle the front-wheel drive car or how to be fast in it.

So many new things as gravel, the front-wheel drive, wheelspin, sliding, a tarmac mixed with the gravel, a handbrake… what else… RX rules! But what would be a better way to challenge yourself than trying new things and really get out of the comfort zone.

I learned really quickly because of the academy concept. I got really high quality coaching which helped me to understand the car a lot quicker.

When we got to the Kouvola RX race track, the weather sucked. It had been raining for weeks before the race and the mud made my debut a bit harder in the beginning.

But seriously, what an amazing experience! I think I’m in love with RX! Seriously.

I became 4th in the final, close to the podium finish and I’m extremely happy!

To start from zero and ending up having the same speed as the fastest guys in this tricky sport was my victory. I had to change my whole driving style for rallycross because everything is done pretty much the opposite way comparing to circuit racing; how to brake, approaching to the corners, driving lines, how to cope with the understeer, handbrake…

I feel privileged to have this experience. And I couldn’t think a better way to get introduced to the sport. I wouldn’t have learned all the things so fast without the help of the RXAcademyOfficial team; talented coaches, mechanics, spotters, managers etc.

Thank you. And a huge thanks to Medialiiga Oy for making this experience possible for me.

This year I participated in the V8 Thunder cars NEZ championship together with Mika Racing and Ford Mustang.

The year was colorful and we had a bit of bad luck with some technical issues but all in all it was an OK first season.  The highlight of the year for myself was to win a race for the first time after my hiatus, which took place between 2010 and 2014.

I proved to myself that I’m back in the game. Mostly mentally, because the talent has been there all along. But being able to win is another story.

Motorsport is a team sport and getting everything right is always a result of practice and good co-operation. But the most important thing is to believe and to trust; in yourself and everyone in the team. And to get the team and the partners to believe in you.

But as in every relationship, trust must be earned.

I really enjoyed the year. Racing felt good again after the difficult past year with the neck injury. Racing was so hard after that so my personal goal was to be able to control and to believe in myself and to have fun. And that goal was definitely fulfilled throughout the season. I felt like I was back again and I could have not done it without the trust and support of the team and my family.

Final result of the 4 race-weekend-long season was 3 podiums (1 win) and 2 pole positions. We had the chances to win the championship when entering to the last race in Sweden, but unfortunately we didn’t have the speed needed to win the race heats so we finished 4th in the tight NEZ-championship. But we will be more clever and advanced next year. We are hungry for the rematch as the season 2018 starts!

Thank you Mika, Toni, Rape, Sami, Jone, Matti, Keke and Outi for the great work you’ve done throughout the year!

x Emma

PS. for closer look in my life and the racing career, please check out the social media channels, that are being updated waaaaaaaaay much often than the homepage!

Well hello pumpkins!

Season 2017 is soon to be started and I couldn’t be more exited to be honest.

Summary of 2016

As some of you may know, season 2016 was a catastrophe for me. I’ve never been injured in racing but unfortunately I had to experience the first time in that matter last year. 170 km/h straight to a concrete wall in 45 degree angle. Unfortunately it happened in the first race of the season and you can probably imagine how the rest of the season went. My neck got quite badly injured and the recovery process was a long one and I couldn’t drive all the races.

11th in the championships standings was not at all what I was hoping for but that’s sports. During a long career it’s inevitable to go through some seasons that aren’t going too good but the most important thing is to learn the lesson. I think I’ve learned more about myself in one year than ever before.

Season 2017

However, the season 2017 is going to be interesting and exciting. I’m racing two totally different type of cars. A good old H-geared V8 muscle car Ford Mustang in V8 Thunder car series, both Northen European and Finnish championships but also a really powerful and fast high tech electric car Tesla P100D in Electric GT (EGT) championships in Europe. How freaking cool is that?!

Based on the P100DL, the race-prepared car is capable of doing 0-100 km/h in 2.1 seconds, three-tenths quicker than the production version. Pirelli’s P Zero slick and wet tyres have been specially engineered to deal with the impressive 778 bhp (585 kW) and 995 Nm torque produced by the P100DL 2.0. Cheers to that!

Racing in Finland

It is also fantastic to drive two races in Finland for the first time in 10 years!

I’m very happy to work with a totally new Finnish team Mika Racing in V8 Thunder car series. I’ve never driven either of the cars so I can’t wait to get the testing started in few weeks time, starting with the Mustang.

The calendar for V8 Thunder car series that I’m racing is:

• 28-29. April Bikernieki LATVIA ***
• 2.-4. June Ahvenisto FINLAND ** / ***
• 30. June – 2. July Pärnu ESTONIA * / ***
• 25-26. August Mantorp SWEDEN ** / ***
• 22.-24. September Alastaro FINLAND *

• * 3 race heats instead of 2
• ** Also V8 Thunder Swedish Championships
• *** NEZ

http://www.v8thunder.fi

People in Finland can follow the V8 Thunder races on AlfaTV. I’ll give the specific information as the season is starting.

THE EGT Championships

The EGT Championship calendar will be announced soon!

I’ll inform all the channels to follow the EGT races as soon as they are published. For more information about the new Electric GT Championships, visit http://www.electricgt.co

Thank you for supporting me and giving me more power, let’s kick some ass together!

Hugs.

x Emma

The season started quite late for PWR Racing team. Cooperation with a new car manufacturer in STCC, SEAT, came public really late, so the team and it’s partners Combitech and Cliff model did a massive job to get three cars up and running to the first race weekend of the season.

It meant no testing with the car before the premier and two times 30 minutes test sessions before time qualifications were not enough to solve out some setup and technical issues. I must say that Skövde race weekend was absolutely the toughest in years… it really felt like everything was going wrong all the time. As I said, we had some technical issues, setup issues, and i must admit that my concentration wasn’t at the best either due to personal worries during the week.

In addition to all the tough occasions, our car crashed with a deer on the way to the hotel on Saturday night (time qualification day)… My engineer and I were fine but I couldn’t say the same about the deer nor the car. The time was about 1am when I was in bed and I had to wake up at 6:30am on a raceday. I don’t know if the short night sleep was the reason for my little mistake during race one when I turned the car into the first corner a bit too early trying to decrease understeering and hit just a bit the inner wall where the car just jumped to the outside wall which was really near.

I couldn’t continue the race and my mechanics did a massive job to get the car fixed to the next race. Unfortunately we were a bit too late on the grid so I had to start last (i should have started 4th). We didn’t have time to put the car on the scales before the race so when I was braking hard for the first time end of a long straight, my right front tyre locked up really badly because of the imbalance of the car and damaged the tyre heavily. I miscalculated the damage and thought I could continue with the tyre but when I was braking into the first corner, the wheels locked again and there was absolutely nothing I could do to save it because there was concrete walls all over. I crashed onto the wall very heavily.

What can I say… just absolutely unbelievably shit weekend. Something I definitely want to forget now that I’ve dealed with it in my head.

Luckily there are such great fans, supportive people and family all around me who are believing in me and supporting me. My racing family PWR Racing did a great job fixing the car but it just was a tough weekend for all of us. I’m just really proud of the team and its partners that we even had 3 cars at the first race weekend. The last car was ready on thursday morning at 5am… we will definitely be more prepared in Mantorp after 3 weeks and get on the highest step with good consistent job during the season.

There was a lot of hope and also some glory at Solvalla! What a race, a great  atmosphere and a great event for PWR Racing Team!

I have seen a couple of videos after the race and how the audience cheered for me… absolutely fantastic! It really brings tears to my eyes to see that racing can be so emotional to people and they feel as passionate about it as I do.

I did put on a show at the track with some nice overtakes and drama. My car wasn’t in the best shape after race one, I must admit. I drove myself up to 5th place from 8th with some nice overtakes.

I was pushing hard from the first lap. My car was destroyed in the beginning of the race and little by little more peaces fell off. My tires didn’t work for the first 5 laps, but after that I could push really hard even if some parts where not quite on place… Sorry guys.

In the second race I started 5th and drove myself up to second place when I overtook Richard Göransson. With two laps left it started to rain and I estimated the grip a bit wrong, locked my wheels when braking, drove out and came back to track in P4.

I really put on a great fight in the last lap but I wasn’t able to get myself up to 3rd. That was a great pity but that’s racing.

In Solvalla I had a good car and I was able to show everyone what Finnish Sisu means.  I’m so hungry for my first STCC victory in two weeks time at Ring Knutstorp.

A big thanks to our great team and all of our awesome partners!

The STCC race at Falkenberg marked a new milestone when prince Carl Philip won the second race on Saturday. Carl Philip proved that he is a true racing driver. He made no mistakes under pressure and showed good speed all weekend. I would like to congratulate him for a well deserved win. But now it is my turn to achieve a milestone, my first win.

Looking back at Falkenberg it was a trouble filled weekend. On Friday we tried to find a good setup, but it was difficult. I managed ninth in qualifying, a position I can’t be happy with.

In race one a minor crash and contact damaged my front, so the hood just went off and my car looked like a stock car. With no ground effect left it was impossible to race, but I finished ninth and saved some points.

In race two I started second on the grid. I had a discussion with Carl Philip before the race and we agreed to try to make it through the first corner without any damage. He made it but I hit my team mate Daniel so my tape fixed front body gave up and the front light was stuck between the wheel and the chassis.

I had to pit after the safety car came in and my race was pretty much there. Again I managed to take the car home and save a couple of points, but the race was not what I had hoped for. Last year I was second, an achievement I would have liked to top this year.

We learned a lot at Falkenberg, but we ran out of time trying to figure out a good setup. I still feel we are getting closer of finding a setup that will help me win my first race. So not a lot memorize layer from my point of view from Falkenberg but I am happy that Poker and Daniel won in the GT:s and our junior team presented well!

Next up is Gelleråsen in August. I will try my best to win. But I need a good car. We are getting there. I feel it.

I had high hopes for the evening race concept at Mantorp Park. The day turned out to be as good as I expected. I got my second podium in a row and my third in STCC.

But it was a though day. We started early and the second race finished late in the evening. We did everything in one day that we usually do in two.

A total of five maximum attacks during the day and 50 degrees in the car with full gear was quite an effort. It was important to keep hydrated and keep care of the energy level during the day. I must say, I was really tired and really happy when the second race was over.

But I like the evening race concept, hope to see it next year again in STCC.

I was quite happy with my qualifying speed. We are getting there. Fifth in Q1 and Superpole show that we are finding the speed to challenge for top 3. But to be honest, I ruined race one with a bad start. The STCC-car is not meant to do burnouts with, but that is what I did. I did a solid race though and finished 7:th, just behind team-mate Daniel. So we got some really valuable points.

The second race with the turned starting grid was typical for STCC. A lot of drama and close racing.  Again I missed the start and could not defend my position. But I decided to drive tactically and stay out of trouble. It paid off, big time. With only 5 laps reaming the safety car gathered the field. My team radioed that – Emma, you are third. I could not believe it.

The last lap was a thriller. Fredrik Larsson chased me to the finish line. What an ending to a though day. Third felt like victory!

Now I am looking forward to Falkenberg next week. It is one of my absolute favorite tracks. And remember, I almost won there last year!

It is always a great feeling, the feeling of being on the podium. Third place in race two at Anderstorp Raceway was almost more than expected. I am really happy.

The team did such a great job. They worked hard and even though we had problems finding the right setup I had a great car on Saturday, being able to push and race hard in though conditions.

My team mate Daniel helped be defend the third place making it difficult for Thed Björk and Richard Göransson to catch me. In fact, I could pull away from Björk and that was really a proof that we are able to challenge for wins this season.

Anderstorp is legendary racing ground. It was here Ronnie Peterson and the other Formula 1 drivers competed in the 70s. On Friday I was far from happy to be at Anderstorp. I was feeling awful, miserable to be honest. I had fever and my body was far from ready to go racing.

I managed to secure sixth place in qualifying. But the gap to the front row was too big. I was far from happy.

I had a good night sleep and I felt better on Saturday morning. Then came the rain and again we had to change the setup. The compromise we decided to keep was pretty okay. The track conditions were tricky, but I felt I had a good car.

In race one I missed the start a little bit. But I overtook some cars and the settled to secure my fifth place and valuable points. I was really tired after the race. I went almost straight to the trailer and felt a sleep. They woke me up just before the second race. I almost felt I did not want to race. But I am happy I did.

It was a hard fight. I lost some places in the start again, but I pushed hard and overtook a couple of cars. I was able to overtake Richard Göransson and when I caught Daniel he did not keep me behind for long. He saw I was faster, so no use keeping me behind. I had a lot of close moments, four wheel slides and braking points just pushing the car in wrong direction.

I could not catch Fredrik Larsson or Fredrik Ekblom, but I am really pleased I could keep the rest behind me. My second STCC career podium. Now I have a second and a third place. Try to guess what the next aim is, YES the WIN! That is what we will achieve soon, really soon!