Friday, February 28: Kalle Viippo returns to Team Vietnam to partner the defending UIM F1H2O World Champion Jonas Andersson in 2025.
The flying Finn only tackled the Road to Sharjah-Grand Prix of Sharjah in 2024 and finished the season in 20th place in the Drivers’ Championship, following his 10th place on Khalid Lagoon and his seventh position in the first of the Sprint races. His place alongside Andersson had been taken by rookie Estonian Stefan Arand at the start of the year and the youngster and Andersson did enough over the course of the season for Andersson to retain the Teams’ Championship for Team Vietnam.
Now that Viippo will start the new season in Vietnam in May as the number two driver, the pressure is on the Finn to deliver strong performances if Team Vietnam is to retain the title against fierce competition.
Kalle gained experience in the Finnish national SJ-15 class before he started touring with the F1H2O caravan as part of the F4-S community and then switching to the UIM F2 World Championship.
He was a top-level graduate from the F4-S Championship that ran alongside rounds of the UIM F1H2O World Championship for several seasons. Viippo made his debut in the top echelon of the sport in 2021 in San Nazzaro and went on to finish sixth in both races at Figueira da Foz in Portugal that determined the outcome of the shortened championship that followed global travel restrictions. Those two finishes enabled Viippo to finish ninth in the standings in his rookie season.
The resident of Forssa in Finland then tackled a full season of six Grand Prix in 2022 and scored points in five races to finish in 10th place. His best result was a fine fifth at the Grand Prix of the Middle East in Sharjah at the end of the year.
The 2023 season was fought out over five Grand Prix and Viippo switched from a Molgaard to a DAC as part of Team Sweden alongside Andersson. He finished outside the points at two races and a DNF in Mâcon didn’t help his cause either. Kalle picked up two points for finishing ninth in Zhengzhou and was fifth in Sharjah to end the year in 13th.
Missing much of last year has given Kalle renewed enthusiasm and hunger for his return to a full programme of races in 2025. Now a veteran of 15 Grand Prix - with a best qualifying position of third (Sharjah – 2023) – Viippo is keen to take the extra step this year and regularly be challenging for top five positions in races.
