Tom Blomqvist

Career

Tom Blomqvist began his racing career in karting, in which he competed between 2003 and 2008, winning eight Championship titles in New Zealand. In 2009, at the young age of 15, he left his home in New Zealand in order to make the move to motor racing in Europe, starting with Formula Renault 2.0 Sweden where he took five podium finishes and one victory from 14 races, finishing third in the standings. He also finished third in the Formula Renault NEZ Championship. At the end of the season, having to first apply for special permission to race as he was still only 15 years old, he competed in two of the four races of the Formula Renault UK Winter Series winning both of the races at the Rockingham Motor Speedway.

In 2010 he competed in the full Formula Renault UK season racing for Fortec Motorsport, taking 12 podiums on his way to becoming the youngest ever champion in the series' history at the age of 16 - beating the record set by Lewis Hamilton who won the Championship aged 18.

November 2010 saw Blomqvist compete in the iconic Macau Grand Prix. Driving for Eurointernational he secured 3rd place with fastest lap time in the Formula BMW Pacific race.

In December 2010 Blomqvist was a McLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist as well as receiving the Autosport British Club Driver Of The Year Award. At the British Racing Drivers' Club awards he received the Henry Surtees Award for the most outstanding performance by a rising star.

2011 saw Blomqvist competing in German F3 with Performance Racing. Despite competing against stronger teams, he was lying 3rd in the Championship when at the start of the race at EuroSpeedway Lausitz he was hit by another car and propelled into a wall, prematurely ending his season and breaking his back at the same time. It would require several months of recuperation before Blomqvist was fit to drive again.

On 30 November 2011 Blomqvist signed with MB Partners Ltd, owned by former F1 driver Mark Blundell.

It is testament to Blomqvist's talent that he once again had the privilege to be a McLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist at the end of 2011.

In February 2012 Blomqvist joined the select group of young talent on the McLaren Driver Development Programme.

In the same month, Blomqvist was one of six finalists in a large selection process as Porsche looked for two new junior drivers who would also be contesting the Porsche Carrera Cup. Despite the accolade of being chosen as one of the drivers, Blomqvist elected to stay in single-seaters and a few weeks later, having been selected as a European F3 VW Factory Driver, he signed with Ma-con Motorsport to contest the F3 Euroseries.

Because of his outstanding success at Macau in 2010, Eurointernational invited Blomqvist to compete in the 2012 German F3 Championship, fitting the races around his F3 Euroseries schedule. Despite competing in only five rounds, Blomqvist was 5th in the Championship having achieved an impressive 10 podiums, including five wins, and led by 16 points for these rounds.

Blomqvist finished the season in a credible 7th place for both the F3 Euroseries and the FIA European Formula 3 Championship having competed with a team new to Formula 3. He entered the Macau F3 street circuit race in November 2012 where he and his team, Eurointernational, used a brand new car but with no time to test beforehand the results were disappointing.

At the end of 2012 Blomqvist was selected to join the Red Bull Junior Team and competed in the newly formed FIA European Formula 3 Championship this year — billed as "the most competitive young talent series on the planet" - where he joined his former team EuroInternational as their lone driver for the 2013 season. Despite the team being new to Formula 3, Blomqvist finished the season in 7th place and EuroInternational finished 5th in the Team Championship. Quite an achievement considering all their points were harvested by just one driver, Tom Blomqvist, whereas the teams that finished ahead each had several drivers.

In November 2013 Blomqvist entered the Macau Grand Prix, this time driving for his former team, Fortec Motorsport. The Red Bull Junior driver was back on pace and looking at starting on pole. However, in the dying minutes of the session Blomqvist was unable to get another clear lap, losing pole position and ending up sixth. During the qualifying race, the unfamiliar starting procedure of the Fortec car caused him to stall at the start. While waiting to be restarted, a distracted Harry Tincknell, who had also momentarily stalled, drove straight into the back of him, ending Blomqvist's day and causing him to start at the back of the grid for the final race. Blomqvist then went on to have a great race the following day. His talent that hadn’t had much chance to be shown that year came out as he charged his way through the 28-car field. When the checkered flag was shown 15 laps later, Blomqvist had managed to bring his car home in eighth place.

For 2014 Blomqvist again competed in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship driving for Carlin and along with his team mates, Antonio Giovinazzi and Sean Gelael, driving under a new banner - Jagonya Ayam with Carlin - in their Dallara-Volkswagens. After a thrilling season racing with the cream of junior motorsport's talent, Blomqvist still managed to finish 2nd in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship despite incurring engine change penanlties.

In November 2014 Blomqvist entered the Macau Grand Prix driving his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin car. Despite being one of the quickest drivers on the track in practice and qualifying, Blomqvist's luck ran out within the first lap of the Grand Prix. After making a great start from 3rd, Blomqvist was challenging for the lead which he took after Lucas Auer made a mistake a few corners in. As Blomqvist took the corner Esteban Ocon made an over optimistic move from behind and as he stuck his nose in the two collided but carried on, running side by side to the next corner. Ocon had damaged his suspension and at San Francisco Bend he went straight on, taking a powerless Blomqvist into the barriers and ending his race. After which there was a multiple pile-up behind, with Yu Kanamaru getting launched over Jordan King and then Blomqvist before landing on a wall at the side of the track. Luckily no one was hurt in the chaos and after the race was restarted Felix Rosenqvist went on to become the 2014 winner.

On 2 February 2015 it was announced Blomqvist had secured a BMW DTM drive for multiple seasons, replacing the spot left vacant by the departure of Joey Hand. The announcement followed a selection test carried out by Blomqvist, Jack Harvey, Robin Frijns, Lucas Luhr, Richie Stanaway, Alex Lynn, Sam Bird and Alex Gurney at Jerez in December 2014. Blomqvist joined the RBM Team alongside Augusto Farfus and finished the season in a credible 14th place having made DTM history as the youngest BMW driver to win a race in his first season and the second youngest race winner with any manufacturer.

For the 2016 season Blomqvist remained with the RBM Team but with a new team mate, Maxime Martin. He concluded a successful 2016 DTM season in point-scoring fashion at the series’ finale in Hockenheim meaning Blomqvist ended the season in sixth position in the Drivers' Championship and the youngest driver in the top ten of the season's final standings.

2017 saw Tom remain with BMW and Team RBM but in the newly formed Team RBR with ex-Formula One driver, Timo Glock, has his stablemate.

Career summary

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key)

Complete FIA European Formula 3 Championship results

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Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 75% of the winner's race distance. ^* Season still in progress.

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

^* Season still in progress.