Tom Blomqvist: “It was a good way for the team to end the weekend”

Tom Blomqvist ended the 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season with only his third top-ten finish of the year, with the British racer ending tenth in Sunday’s second race at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit.

The NIO 333 FE Team driver saw himself fall out of contention of first race of the Berlin E-Prix after contact from behind on the opening lap, with

qualified only seventeenth in Saturday’s first race of the Berlin E-Prix, but a first lap incident saw him hit the pit lane for repairs that lost him a number of laps to the rest of the field.

After that, it was just a case of getting to the finish for Blomqvist, but he used the time on track to learn ahead of Sunday’s finale.

“The Qualifying times were super tight on Saturday and the final classification could have seen us much higher up,” said Blomqvist.  “P17 was a tough result, but my race start was very strong.

“I made up a couple of positions with a good first corner, but then got hit from behind at turn 6 and broke the track rod again, so that was a shame. Then you obviously have to repair it and lose a few laps, so that was my race done really.

“It was then important to collect data to try to learn a few things, but overall it was a hard day!”

Sunday saw Blomqvist make it through to the shootout for pole position for the third time of the season, and he was able to keep himself involved in the battle for points throughout the race.

He did drop out of the top ten in the closing laps, but he found a way passed DS Techeetah’s Jean-Éric Vergne for tenth to score a point, only his third finish inside the top ten in the fifteen-race season.

“I think Sunday was a really good day in general for the team,” said Blomqvist. “We had a great result in Qualifying with our third Super Pole appearance of the season; it was a good lap and P5 on the grid was just reward for all the team’s efforts over recent weeks!

“We knew that the race would be challenging, always looking in my mirrors, but it was clean, we managed to stay out of trouble and use the Attack Mode at the right time. I did drop out of the points, but thankfully for me it all kicked off in front of me on the last lap and I was able to nick position back so that was really nice.

“It was a good way for the team to end the weekend, so thanks to all the girls and boys in the team who have worked so hard all season.”