Tom Blomqvist continued his preparation for the Nürburgring 24 Hours this past weekend as he and the #98 ROWE Racing BMW M6 GT3 qualified in 3rd place before going on to finish in that position and on the podium at the 6-hour Qualification Race.
Teaming up with Mikkel Jensen and Connor De Philippi for the 6-hour Qualification
Race in the #98 Rowe Racing, Tom enjoyed another successful weekend at the ‘Green Hell’ as the BMW factory driver made it two trips to the podium from his previous two visits.
With the Nürburgring 24 Hours less than a month away, the race marked the final stage of preparation for the entries and was the last chance for the team’s and driver’s to get up to speed with the demands of the 16.123-mile circuit that poses many challenges.
Top-30 qualifying saw Tom’s regular IMSA teammate Connor De Philippi take the wheel of the BMW M6 GT3 and his strong lap secured a 3rd place start for the ROWE Racing entry and gave Tom, who was starting the race, a good foundation to work from as the leading BMW.
Getting a good getaway at the rolling start, Tom kept his third place through turn one but heading into the extremely tight turn two, Tom was touched by the 4th place Ferrari but did excellently to keep control of the car but lost a handful of positions.
However, Tom persevered with his foot to the floor and slowly began to progress back up the field. As strategy played out across the race, Tom and the team worked their way back to third place, from where they took the chequered flag in an all BMW 1-2-3 podium!
“I’m really pleased to finish 3rd on the podium with my team after a long, tough day of racing. It was a great result for BMW to lockout the podium spots and the weekend has been the ideal preparation for the big race next month. Hopefully, we can replicate the performance and result in a month’s time as this is race is one of the highlights of my season.”
The Nurburgring 24 Hours gets underway next month with the race running from 22-23 of June.
In association with MBP
