Spurning the F1 path for BMW and the DTM

Once the dust cleared on Formula 3 Armageddon in last November's Macau Grand Prix, once he clambered free of the Carlin Dallara in which he was cocooned as first Esteban Ocon's broken machine veered him into the barrier as they dueled side-by-side for the lead, and then Yu Kanamaru vaulted him Evel Knievel-style before landing on the wall next to his head, the first reaction for Tom Blomqvist was acute disappointment.

But, for pretty much the first time in his four-year F3 career, the 21-year-old wasn't racing for his very future in the sport.

He'd already secured that over the course of 2014, and all the signs were that Blomqvist would be graduating to the World Series by Renault's headlining Formula Renault 3.5 category along with Sean Gelael, son of the Indonesian KFC magnate who rescued Blomqvist's career when he was dumped by Red Bull at the end of 2013.

Blomqvist had a different future lined up before his F3 swansong © LAT

Before heading to Macau, Blomqvist had been sounded out about a test for BMW's DTM team at Jerez in early December. Of course he hoped to do well, as any competitive young guy would do, but he was up against some serious talent: Alex Lynn, Jack Harvey, Robin Frijns, Richie Stanaway, Sam Bird and Lucas Luhr were all given the same opportunity.

Also, he'd tested DTM machinery before (a Mercedes in the 2010 and '11 McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award tests, and an Audi at the end of '12), and not done the job he'd hoped to.

"It was quite a competitive test," he chuckles. "I think we all had an idea that there was a seat available for 2015. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it went pretty well from my side.

"When I tested for the AUTOSPORT Award it was wet and I didn't do many laps, and to be honest I was pretty average in that thing back then. I didn't get on with it very well at all. Jerez was the first time I'd driven a new-spec DTM car and it's a little bit different, and for me it felt like the first proper DTM test.

"It did take a while for me to adapt to the BMW initially, I must admit. The weight of the car and the power steering were the biggest things - the inputs you get through the steering wheel are quite a bit different but, once I got my head around it all, it clicked and went quite well."

Well enough for him to hugely impress the bigwigs in Munich, resulting in Blomqvist being given a multi-year (he won't say how many) contract to race in the DTM, starting this season alongside Augusto Farfus at the Belgian-run RBM team.

Each of the seven drivers at Jerez was given an identical programme, run over a rolling one-day itinerary. But whereas some ran a morning and afternoon session on the same day, Blomqvist started after lunch one day before coming back after a night's sleep to finish off.

"When I jumped back in it in the morning, it was game on," he says. "The track at Jerez is so much better in the morning and it really went well. With everyone on the same programme we were being compared against one another - we did a few qualifying simulations and a few race runs to try and give us a full experience of it all."

Once the offer had come from BMW, the next thing was to tell Gelael's father Ricardo. "Without Ricardo and Sean I wouldn't have raced last year," says Blomqvist. "Ricardo always said all along that if something came up I had to take it. I think he had the DTM in the back of his mind, and when it became sure he was happy for me."

BMW test at Jerez sealed Blomqvist's future with the German manufacturer

The Gelaels weren't the first to have come to Blomqvist's salvation, and he acknowledges the continuing support of manager Mark Blundell and the many beyond-the-call-of-duty assists of EuroInternational team boss Antonio Ferrari, whose squad he first raced for in the 2010 Macau GP Formula BMW support race.

It's been tough for a driver who, as the son of 1984 World Rally champion Stig Blomqvist, many thought must have the funding to take him through the sport. But Blomqvist Sr, while a great, down-to-earth bloke, is not made of money, and he's no schmoozer either.

"Dad was leaving the sport when the big money started to come in," says Blomqvist, "and he hasn't got the business sense of other guys who have gone on to be successful outside the sport. He grew up driving, and that's all he knows.

"Apart from the very early days in karting, he's never been in a position to fund my racing. Some people Dad knew helped me in my first year in Swedish Formula Renault [2009, in which Blomqvist finished third as a 15-year-old]. I was still young and thought it was going to be easy after that, but the budget you need for F3... God, people earn less than that per year.

"But my dad has helped me out - he gave me a lot of his genes so I can't complain too much!"

After winning the Formula Renault UK title with Fortec in 2010, Blomqvist had tough years in German F3 in '11 with Performance Racing (he broke his back at Lausitz) and in European F3 in '12 and '13 respectively with Ma-Con Motorsport and EuroInternational, both underfunded teams that lacked resources.

Blundell had helped him get onto the McLaren junior programme in '12, but that made way for Red Bull in '13 thanks to Antonio Ferrari's recommendations to Helmut Marko and the offer of (some) financial assistance from the drinks giant.

When Blomqvist was dropped from Red Bull, the Gelaels' Jagonya Ayam scheme got him a seat with Carlin for '14: he finished second in the championship, behind Esteban Ocon and ahead of Max Verstappen, and outscored everyone from mid-season onwards.

For a young guy who moved from Saffron Walden to New Zealand with his family at the age of seven, the 2011-13 period was a tough time. "Those three years I didn't really get anywhere in doing myself justice," he recalls. "I always believed in myself, but it was so hard to get anywhere.

Red Bull association didn't continue after the 2013 European F3 season © LAT

"To be honest there were times when I didn't even want to race anymore, that I thought, 'It's bullshit, this sport.' My family is in New Zealand and my dad in Sweden, so apart from a support crew of friends, I was pretty much on my own, didn't get up to much [away from the track] and it was difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But it's all come good now!"

Indeed, and he's not the only one happy about it. Tom Dillmann owes Blomqvist a few beers, as he has become the driver selected to replace him on the Jagonya Ayam programme alongside Gelael and Antonio Giovinazzi. Blomqvist, meanwhile, still lives with Gelael just outside Bath, although says he's never going to catch up with his housemate's considerable MCing skills ("I'm no rapper mate, although I'd say I'm better than Antonio!"). And, most importantly, he's now a professional driver.

"It's taken quite a while trying to build things back up since I won in Formula Renault," he says. "I owe a lot to Ricardo and Sean and to all the hard work that Mark's done behind the scenes. The way motorsport's been going, there aren't many people out there who are earning money from doing what they love, so I'm very fortunate in that."