Emma Kimiläinen

Emma Elina Kimiläinen-Liuski (born 8 July 1989 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish racing driver, who competes in the 2020 BRSCC W Series Championship, using #7 as her race number. One of the elder drivers in the field, Kimiläinen would claim a single victory in the 2019 season of the W Series, securing fifth in the Championship.

Background
After spending several years in karting, Kimiläinen would get her first taste of car racing in 2005, taking part in the Northern European Formula Ford Championship. She duly claimed multiple Rookie class wins en-route to fifth in the Championship, before going on to finish as runner-up on countback in 2006, having four wins to Sami Isohella's five. 2007 saw Kimiläinen remain in Scandinavia, racing Radicals in Sweden.

Audi Assistance: 2008 - 2009
Kimiläinen would gain the attention of Audi after her campaigns in Formula Ford Northern Europe, who duly placed her in Formula Masters for 2008. Yet, after a promising rookie campaign, in which Kimiläinen scored a podium finish and tenth in the Championship, Audi would withdraw their backing from the Finn, citing the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Fortunately for Kimiläinen she would secure enough funding to enter Formula Palmer Audi in 2009, finishing fifth with four podium finishes at the end of the season.

Yet, that would seemingly be that for Kimiläinen's race career, as a lack of funding saw her take a hiatus from motorsport indefinitely in 2010, instead deciding to start a family.

A Surprise Redemption: 2014 - 2019
In 2014 Kimiläinen would secure a surprise return to racing, taking a seat in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, becoming the first woman to race in the series since 1999. Eleventh in that campaign saw the Finn secure a second season in 2015, with Kimiläinen duly improving to seventh with a couple of podium finishes. She returned for the 2016 season, although a heavy accident midway through the season saw Kimiläinen withdraw from the Championship with a neck injury.

After sitting out most of 2017, barring a run out in the Swedish V8 ThunderCars Championship, Kimiläinen planned to compete in the Electric GT Championship in 2018, although that series was ultimately cancelled.

W Series History
Kimiläinen secured a seat in the 2019 BRSCC W Series Championship after successfully passing the 2019 Driver Selection Test, and would claim #7 as her race number. She duly debuted at the season opening round in 2019 Hockenheim Race, although after stalling on the grid, Kimiläinen would be taken out by Megan Gilkes on the opening lap. That accident was heavy enough to aggravate her old neck injury, forcing Kimiläinen to withdraw from the following two rounds.

The Finn returned for the race at the 2019 Norisring Race, where she impressed by claiming fastest lap and fifth place, having run out of time to take fourth away from Fabienne Wohlwend after getting caught in a queue behind Esmee Hawkey. However, it was at the following round in Assen that Kimiläinen showed her true potential, as she claimed pole, victory and fastest lap to become the first driver to secure a Grand Slam in W Series history. She went on to fight with Alice Powell for victory at the season finale at Brands Hatch, finishing second behind the Brit.

That result put Kimiläinen into fifth in the Championship at the end of the season, ensuring that she ended the season with an automatic qualifying spot for the 2020 W Series Championship.

A Veteran Champion?: 2020
Kimiläinen confirmed that she would once again take part in the W Series in 2020, once again using #7 as her race number.

Full W Series Record
Shown below are a series of tables outlining 's career in the W Series in statistical form.

W Series Entries
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for during their W Series career:

Career Results
Below is a table showing 's full W Series record.


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