Emma Kimilainen 2nd in Silverstone

Good third race from Emma Kimilainen in Silverstone - which soon must be coming her favourite track - starting from 5th in the grid Emma stormed to take the third place after the first lap.

A little luck also came to Emma's way as Tristan Vautier spun off the lead to let few drivers past. This gave Emma the second place - and clear view of the leader's (Maxime Jousse) rear-wing.

Kimilainen initially gained on Jousse - but it soon became clear that Jousse was just that little bit too fast on the day.

With few hairy moments where Emma locked breaks - kept me on the edge until the final lap. When Emma comfortably kept her second place - by keeping Paul Rees behind her.

Emma's podium place lifted her once again to the fifth place in the over all standings - past Rees, who over took Emma yesterday.

So - all to play for in the final weekend of the championship in two weeks time in Snetterton.

Photos from Emma's win will appear on MTV3 website and on Emma's own website.

More... Motor Sports

Friday was a long day - night.

With the early start from Birmingham at 6am - and arriving (this time nice and smoothly) to Silverstone.

Few early morning shots of Emma Kimilainen for her website - non-racing time of images. Then the couple of qualification runs and one race to cover during the day.

Hopefully I managed to get some good shots for the website and other stuff.

This being my first days shooting this type of motor sport - it was a steep learning curve

and I attempted to cover as many angles as possible, as there wasn't much racing to photograph.

This was due to Emma Kimilainen having a racing incident during the first lap of the race. Which meant that my images from the race were restricted to the grid, start and Emma driving to the pit-lane with a flat tyre.

Suppose photography-wise there was something different to capture - as Emma Kimilainen stood on the pit-wall with her broken down vehicle on the front. As well as Emma's confrontation with the 'culprit' for her retirement from the race - Paul Rees.

Emma herself was not best pleased about the actions on the track - and was exchanging some rather heated words with Rees at the paddock.

As if the eleven hours of motor sport wasn't enough - I then dashed off to Milton Keynes to cover MK Lions vs Scottish Rocks BBL-basketball match.

My first 'pro' basketball event (domestic) in the U.K - surprised by the Arena the game was played in. Lights weren't anywhere near the lovely and bright lights of the home arena on LaNMKY.. but still, managed with ISO3200/1600 to keep the shutter speed around 1/500 at f2.8 / f3.2

Traffic along the M1/M6 was surprisingly busy at 10pm on a Friday evening as I made my way back to Birmingham.. off to bed around 12.30am and back up around 6.30am - to once again travel the now familiar trip down the motorway to Silverstone.

Saturday's first race of the FPA (Formula Palmer Audi) started around 9.30am - with Emma Kimilainen starting from way back from 12th on the grid.

But as Emma was saying to me yesterday - she is one of the best over-takers in the series and she once again rose four places during the first round.

With the top 4 running away - Emma's main rival during the race was Adam Foster, who kept the fifth place until the last lap and third last corner. In the Priory corner Emma managed to overtake Foster - to complete a superb rise from the 12th up to 5th.

With a fast lap-time in the race - it promises good things for Emma in regards to grid position for this afternoon's race.

Finnish TV station MTV3 - has been using some of my images from Silverstone. They have also written articles based on information that I have provided for them from the races. The two articles - mainly interest to people understanding Finnish are located at :

http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.shtml/arkistot/f1/2009/10/966979

And on Saturday MTV3 put a report/photo right after the first race :

http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.shtml/arkistot/f1/2009/10/967163

Emma Kimilainen's own website has posted few photos from Friday to the Silverstone, so nice to see that the images are finding their way out to the Internet and Media. Link to Emma's Gallery from Silverstone :

http://www.emmakimilainen.fi/app/gallery/gallery/-/dir_id/17/limit/24

Another hour or so to go before the next race - here's for hoping for a Podium finish for Emma!!

Friday at Silverstone

Good morning!

Early morning here at Silverstone race track - a chilly 8 degrees when I arrive here. Now the sun is slowly warming the air and it starts to feel like one can stay outside without getting chilled to the bone.

Off to prepare for the two sessions of qualifying for the FPA series.

And a race in the afternoon - it's bit of a long day as it goes something like this... (to the beat :-) )

Wake up : 6am

In the car : 6.30am

Arrive at Silverstone (no congestion at M6/M1) : 7.40am

Ready at Paddocks : 8am

Few early morning shots : 'til 8.45am

FPA 1st Q : 10.15am

FPA 2nd Q : 2.25pm (Qualifying sessions are about 20mins each)

FPA race 4.55pm (nasty time for the direction of the sun)

So, there is a lot of empty time in between the sessions. Lets just hope the Media Centre is open today and I get decent speed Internet over there!

The Formula Palmer Audi (FPA) race finished around 5.30pm - after which I hopefully get to photograph Emma standing on the podium!!

After the car racing - I'll dash off to Milton Keynes to photograph a BBL Basketball match, and hopefully arrive back home by 10pm.

It is a tough life when your back is bothering you and you can't perform your full-time job *sigh*

Long day at ... the carpark

So - Silverstone it was today for me, rental car picked up at 11am from the friendly people down the road. Waited for SatNav to find its signal once again as I started my way out of Birmingham - through Spaghetti-Junction and towards M6.

No problems finding my way to Silverstone - but that's when things started to complicated. Thursday being a practice day, the accreditation wasn't all in place which meant that I waited around an hour and half at the Silverstone Car Park 49 for the accreditation to be brought from .. somewhere :-)

The staff was very friendly and apologetic that my name wasn't there when I arrived and did their best to get it sorted as soon as possible.

In the end I was in holding my parking permit - weekend pass and off I went.

Next problem was - where to my photo-vest.

Media centre was all empty (did manage to get to the F1 podium though.. another Finn who has stood at the podium. So add that to your list of Hakkinen's and Raikkonen's) and I was sent back to the main gate/reception to pick it up - who then in turn forwarded me to Race Control..

All in all it took me around two hours and twenty minutes from the time I arrived at Silverstone - to be parked and ready with all my gear. Which was good - as this left me 10 minutes spare before the FPA (Formula Palmer Audi) practice session started.

One thing that I would've liked a little more information was the places allowed to photograph from. No one was anywhere to stop me from photographing - so I pretty much went where-ever I wanted to. Of course keeping good sense and an eye on safety.

I did get some nice shots (IMHO) from the Finnish driver I was here to photograph (Emma Kimilainen) - but once again due to the 'Big World' rules - I am not allowed to post them in a public gallery. I will post a link to Emma's website once the photos go up there.

Back to Silverstone tomorrow - for more of the same!

Silvestone - here I come

Been resting the back for few days - which has been nice. Although it still gives me a little trouble, but not much else I can do really - rest, be active, do what you normally do, don't sit, sit, walk, don't walk... that's what I should/shouldn't do :-)

Anyways, off to photograph Emma Kimilainen, A Finnish Formula Palmer Audi driver at the Silverstone GP this weekend (thursday - saturday).

First time for me doing this sort of sport, so really looking forward to it.

Although not looking forward to the noise of the cars - for once it'll feel silent on the way back from the shoot.

Today it is just the free practise sessions - so I am hoping for plenty of access to the pit-lane for some close-up shots and a chance to look around the track for good positions to shoot the race.

Races themselves only last for about 30 minutes - or 30 laps, so that's not many chances you get to snap a photo. I can see why many papers use agencies to cover these races (more photographers - more angles to get images).

But sometimes we 'little people' get the chance as well - which I am thankful for.

That is all for this morning - hoping to update tonight on how things went.