Reigning UIM E1 World Championship presented by PIF champions Team Brady have had a quiet start to their 2025 season. But at Lago Maggiore, they brought themselves firmly back into contention for this year’s title.
Here’s how they managed it.
Consistency was the key
Right from the off in Italy, American Football legend Tom Brady’s team were on the pace. In qualifying Sam Coleman took a commanding victory in his Qualifying Race by 6.927 seconds, earning his team a well deserved three points.
Coleman’s performance as top qualifier immediately marked Team Brady as the team to watch in Lago Maggiore, and in Saturday's races they really did live up to the billing.
In the first Group Stage race, Emma Kimilainen immediately picked up from where team-mate Coleman left off, taking to the lead as soon as the race got underway, and from there she never looked back. Team Brazil’s Tommy Hansen was Kimilainen’s closest challenger, but he ended up finishing 9.142s adrift come the end of the race.
But speaking immediately after her qualifying race, she was quick to make it clear that she wasn’t taking the early strong pace for granted.
“It’s never easy. It's a very competitive field,” said Kimilainen. “It’s calm water and it makes the boat go even faster than normal, so it adds an extra challenge to keep it stable and neutral. But we’ve learnt that this [qualifying race win] doesn’t mean absolutely anything!”
Kimilainen had little to fear, though.
Coleman stormed his Group Stage race, sending Tom Brady’s team straight through to the final, having won his race by over a staggering 19 seconds.
And even when things didn't quite go Team Brady’s way they still managed to find a way to come out on top.
During the first Final Race, Kimilainen once again took the lead from the off, but a long lap penalty for jump-starting looked like it might prevent her from winning the race. But fortunately for her, both Team Rafa and Blue Rising also got long lap penalties and she was far enough ahead of Hollywood actor Will Smith’s Westbrook Racing to still cross the line in first place.
And with Coleman in imperious form at Lago Maggiore, he comfortably won Final 2, to take the spoils on the Italian lake.
Team Brady are firmly back in the championship fight
Coming into Lago Maggiore, Team Brady found themselves 46 points adrift from the top of the championship, having not had the easiest start to their title defence. Up until the Dubrovnik GP, they’d failed to make it to the podium once, but second in Croatia seemed to give Tom Brady’s team some momentum.
Victory at Lago Maggiore means Team Brady have reduced the championship lead to just 21 points with three rounds remaining.
Brady were assisted by the fact that Aoki Racing had a disappointing time at Laggo Maggiore, finishing seventh, but even then, nobody ever looked like beating Team Brady all weekend long.
Brady’s weekend in Lago Maggiore really was one befitting of a champion, and if they maintain that form going forwards, the fight for the 2025 UIM E1 World Championship presented by PIF could be about to get very intense.
