Tom Blomqvist

Tom Leonard Blomqvist is a British racing driver and the son of 1984 WRC champion Stig Blomqvist.

In recent years, from 2015 to 2017, Tom Blomqvist competed with BMW in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), scoring one victory and four podiums in three seasons. Currently he competes with BMW teams in different GT competitions.

Tom with his father Stig

Tom began his racing career in New Zealand

Tom Blomqvist was born on November 30, 1993, in Cambridge, England. When he was three, Tom began racing when his father bought him a mini-quad bike. The family moved to New Zealand when Tom was six years of age and there he began to drive karting, together with his brother Paul. Parents encouraged Tom in his efforts to make a motorsport career and were always very supportive. Over the years, Blomqvist won many karting competitions in New Zealand and after 2008 Tom was ready for the next step in his career.

In 2009, Stig told his son to move to Europe where he could race at a higher level and make a faster progress. Blomqvist entered the Swedish Formula Renault 2.0 under the Swedish racing license, which he obtained thanks to his father who was from Sweden. His first season in Europe was pretty good as Tom finished 3rd in the series after scoring one win and five podiums.

Formula Renault UK champion

Since March of 2010, he is racing under the British racing license. His next stop was Formula Renault UK which he conquered in his first attempt, becoming the youngest driver who won the series. Blomqvist, who was the driver of Fortec Motorsport, won three out of 20 races, had 12 podiums, four pole positions, 14 front row starts and seven fastest laps.

Blomqvist - 2010 UK Formula Renault champion

After an excellent season, Tom was named Autosport British Club Driver of the Year, he also got Henry Surtees BRDC Award and was the finalist of McLaren Autosport Award finalist.

Move to Germany

Following year brought a new challenge for the talented driver. British driver moved to Germany to compete in Formula 3 championship. As a driver of Performance Racing, Tom scored one victory before finishing 6th in the Drivers’ championship.The following year, Blomqvist stayed in German Formula 3, but this time driving for Eurointernational. The season of 2012 was much better as he won five out of 15 races but that was enough only for the 5th place in the final standings.

Tom Blomqvist, EuroInternational, Dallara F312 - Volkswagen 2012 Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix

During 2012 Blomqvist also competed in the European Formula 3, as a Volkswagen factory pilot for Ma-con Motorsport, but without too much success and he finished 7th overall. Much better he was in F3 Macau Grand Prix in which he took the 3rd place and scored the fastest lap. The same year Blomqvist was involved in McLaren Young Driver Development Program

Blomqvist was 2014 Formula 3 runner-up

Tom’s second season in Formula 3 again wasn’t impressive. He became the driver of Red Bull’s Junior team but failed to win any out of 30 races in 2013 and again finished 7th in the championship, with three podium places on his account.

Blomqvist leading fellow young star Esteban Ocon in 2014

However, in 2014 Blomqvist became one of the title contenders. He became a member of Jagonya Ayam/Carlin team and finished the season as a vice-champion. The Cambridge-born driver won six races and scored other nine finishes in top-three but at the end of the campaign, he was 58 points short to the champion Esteban Ocon.

He was rewarded for that achievement with a test drive in BMW M4 DTM. That was a completely new experience for the young British driver who made a brilliant impression and secured a place in the popular German championship.

DTM debut with BMW

The season of 2015 was full of good things for Tom. Driving for BMW Team RBM, Blomqvist became the second-youngest rookie who won the race at DTM and the youngest in the BMW’s history in the series. He surprised many when he won the race at Oschersleben and rightfully was named Rookie of the Year after finishing 14th in the final standings.

Celebrating his maiden DTM win at Oschersleben

Four podiums in 2016 DTM season

Despite being one of the youngest drivers on the grid in 2016, Tom confirmed that he is capable of racing against more experienced drivers. Even though he didn’t win any out of 18 races, he finished 6th overall after scoring four 2nd places – at Red Bull Ring, Norisring, Moscow Raceway, and Nurburgring.  He was also the second-best BMW driver, only champion Marco Wittmann was better.

In 2017, he stayed with BMW but scored no wins or podiums. Sixth place at Norisring was his best result and he finished 17th in the final standings. Besides racing in DTM, he was driving BMW M6 GT3 in different GT competitions for different teams. He nearly missed a podium at Nurburgring 24 Hours, finishing fourth with BMW Team Schnitzer.

Blomqvist at Nurburgring in the #31 BMW M4 DTM

Victory at Spa 24 Hours in 2018

Outside DTM, Blomqvist also recorded six starts in the Formula E Championship with Andretti FE Team between January and April 2018. He was in the points just once.

In 2018, Blomqvist left DTM and stayed with BMW in different GT competitions. He raced in a BMW M8 GTE at Spa's round of the FIA World Endurance Championship and at Watkins Glen 6 Hours, a part of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, but the highlight of the season was a victory at Spa 24 Hours with Walkenhorst Motorsport. His co-drivers in the #34 BMW M6 GT3 were Philipp Eng and Christian Krognes.

In the FIA WEC, he skipped two rounds and then returned at Fuji, scoring his maiden podium by finishing second in GTE Pro class, sharing a car with Antonio Felix da Costa.

In 2019, Blomqvist's main competition was the IMSA SportCar Championship with BMW Team RLL. In ten races, his best result in the #25 BMW M8 GTLM was the third place at Petit Le Mans.

Tom Blomqvist (left) is celebrating Spa 24h victory with co-drivers and Henry Walkenhorst

Photo: tomblomqvistofficial.com speedsport-magazine.com thecheckeredflag.co.uk motorsportchannel.com dtm.com