Kimi at Santander karting event in Helsinki

It was pure entertainment when Kimi was on track!

Tuesday August 18 was everything but an ordinary weekday for a Kimi fan like myself. There was a unique event taking place on that day: a karting event organised by the Ferrari sponsor Santander Bank. The event took place at the parking lot next to the Helsinki ice rink. The weather was absolutely perfect: +23 degrees Celsius and blue skies. This was an extraordinary chance for some amateur Finnish drivers to challenge their idol on track at the wheel of a go-kart. There had been preliminary races around Finland previously in the summer and the fastest drivers of those rounds had made their way into this event with Kimi. Also selected members of media had an opportunity to take their chances on challenging Kimi. Behind the microphone Kimi notoriously doesn´t enjoy the company of the media but on track  behind the wheel it turned out to be clearly a whole different story! Kimi started to the 5-minute race from the 7th (last) grid slot but the Iceman made his way to the lead in no time and made fun of the media ;)

The Iceman at the wheel of his go-kart.

You don´t get a chance to see Kimi live too often so I absolutely loved every second of the event. Kimi seemed quite relaxed and he really seemed to enjoy the driving. And the Iceman was absolutely convincing behind the wheel. Starting from the last grid slot it usually took only a few laps from him to make it into the lead. But it wasn´t as easy when it came to driving the simulator, which was on site. It´s a well-known fact that Kimi isn´t fond of simulators so when he had a go on the simulator against some amateur Finnish players he had to settle for P3 and P2. So it´s obvious that playing a game and driving a real car are two quite different things and at the wheel of any motor vehicle Kimi absolutely shines!


In the final Kimi faced the four quickest contenders from the previous rounds. I was pretty convinced that Kimi was going to win the final in a dominant way but things evolved differently. Heikki Joenkari, an amateur karting driver, managed to increase his lead into some four seconds already at the beginning of the 10-minute final. Kimi made it up to P2 easily but he had no real chance to catch up Joenkari. So Kimi had to settle for P2 in the final. The race was very entertaining to watch as there were some tight battles on track and at some point there were pieces of the barriers flying in the air as the drivers hit them. It was so great to listen to Kimi´s interview on the podium when he was interviewed by the Finnish F1 commentator Oskari Saari. I was surprised that Kimi was so talkative. It´s always a memorable moment for a fan to see her idol in front of her eyes!

Of course Oskari Saari asked also if Kimi had anything new to tell
about his contract situation. He said he didn´t have any news to
announce. But we didn´t have to wait any longer than till the following day when Ferrari announced that they had renewed Kimi´s contract for 2016! I was mega happy when I heard the news! I´m absolutely thrilled that Kimi and Sebastian will continue as team-mates also next year as they definitely make the best line-up ever for Ferrari! Just wondering if Kimi knew about this already on Tuesday when he stood on the podium in front of his fans... There were no conclusions that could be made from his words but I had a strong feeling that there might be some awesome news considering his contract in the near future. It´s very possible that I heard what I wanted to hear as I had wished from the bottom of my heart that Kimi would continue at Ferrari in 2016 as well! So it´s very hard to find any words to describe how overwhelmingly happy I am at the moment! :D




After the final Kimi was interviewed on the podium by Oskari Saari.

Heikki Joenkari managed to beat Kimi!

Luckily the torturing 4-week summer break is now over and it´s time for the Belgian GP weekend! As Kimi is known for being the "king of Spa" I can´t wait for the qualifying tomorrow!                   

 

The opening lap of the 10-minute final with Kimi making his way up position by position.