It was another successful weekend for Tom Blomqvist who added more silverware to his ever-growing collection, celebrating second place with United Autosports in the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps this weekend. Alongside team-mates Olly Jarvis and Josh Pierson, Tom negotiated an action-packed afternoon of typical Spa drama with slippery conditions, four Safety Cars, and three FCYs at the infamous Belgian circuit.
The weekend got off to a flying start in qualifying as 2022 IMSA DPi champion Blomqvist set the fastest lap of the LMP2 class, securing pole position for the #23 with a +0.339 gap to his nearest competitor.
Tom continued to showcase his ability as soon as the race began, extending his lead from the front. After just 90 minutes of the six-hour race, Tom had pulled 40 seconds clear of his rivals and was in full control of proceedings, before a safety car cancelled out the advantage.
Despite limited mileage in the car due to reduced seat time in Sebring and missing Portimao, Tom was making a firm impression behind the wheel of car 23 - at one stage, even mixing it up amongst the Hypercar class.
A series of unfortunately timed safety cars saw the #23 drop to P7 in class, but the team battled back and were able to keep tabs on the leading group. With one hour remaining the #23 found itself in a battle for the lead of the race once more with Tom taking over in the cockpit from teammate Olly Jarvis.
It was all to play for in the final stages before a last-minute race for fuel saw the #41 WRT lead out of the pitlane to take the win.
The result marked yet another positive weekend for the United Autosports team who were able to build on their success in Portimão, with the #22 car currently occupying the top spot in the LMP2 Team Championship with 66 points and the #23 car in third with 45 points.
Speaking about the weekend, Blomqvist reflected on another positive display:
“That was an emotional rollercoaster…I had a commanding lead which was neutralised due to a Safety Car, which compromised our race and put us on the back foot. We lost time and track position because of it. But we chipped away throughout the race and the guys brought us back into contention. A fantastic effort from the team. Great momentum. Good points.”
The FIA World Endurance Championship will resume in June as anticipation builds ahead of the showpiece event of the calendar year - the 24 Hours of Le Mans.