Team Brady tops E1 table after Monaco victory

Team Brady secured victory at the inaugural E1 Monaco powerboat race after two close-fought races.

The team’s pilots took overall top spot in the glamorous principality with two second-place finishes in the races. The results put the team – owned by the eponymous NFL star – back at the top of the UIM E1 World Championship standings with just two events still to go.

Team Brady pilots Sam Coleman and Emma Kimiläinen struggled in Saturday’s qualifying but were able to turn in two strong performances in the event finals, which saw five of the series’ seven teams line up against each other.

With Team Miami and Team Brazil eliminated from the finals, Team Brady, Team Rafa, Team Blue Rising, Team Drogba and Westbrook Racing went head-to-head. In the first finals race, Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq of Team Drogba expertly secured first place with a gap of over 15 seconds ahead of Team Brady. The second finals race saw Team Rafa, piloted by Tom Chiappe, secure a stunning victory that was enough to propel the team onto the podium for the first time since Jeddah, with Team Brady once again finishing in the runners-up spot.

Following the win, Tom Brady said: “It’s great to see the team win here in Monaco. The teamwork has been incredible – all weekend we’ve been grinding through different issues but we proved again that we can deal with any conditions. I am so proud of Emma, Sam, the whole team and the resilience that we have. I have full confidence and we’re going to keep fighting. I love our team and I love what we are doing.”

Team Drogba, watched on by owner and African football legend Didier Drogba, finished in second place to secure its first podium place of the season. They were followed narrowly by Rafael Nadal’s Team Rafa in third which had started the day in pole position.

Drama on the water saw the first yellow cards of the season issued to Team Aoki and Sergio Perez E1 Team for dangerous driving. If issued another, the pilots involved risk suspension for the remainder of the season.

Rodi Basso, CEO and co-founder of E1 said: “To see our revolutionary electric racing series come to life in the capital of yachting is an incredibly special feeling. The weekend not only provided a spectacular festival of racing but also an opportunity to instigate change and accelerate our mission to work with partners to develop clean technologies for marine mobility.”