Andrea PerilliAhead of his debut in the streets of Punta del Este, Tom Blomqvist spoke with Editor Andrea Perilli about his expectations for this weekend and how his season has gone so far.
Nine out of 20 drivers are driving for the first time in Punta del Este this weekend. MS&AD Andretti’s Tom Blomqvist is one of the.
“The track looks really cool, there is a beautiful weather right now, venues like this one is always really nice to come to; so I’m excited, really. The track layout looks really fun. Not really forgiving, but we’ll see”, he comments when asked about this weekend’s race track.
After a point-scoring weekend in Marrakesh, Blomqvist had two disappointing races where he left with no points in the bag. “Santiago wasn’t an easy weekend for us as a team, as well, which made it even more difficult.
“Mexico was a very disappointing weekend for me. We had some problems in the car we didn’t really find until late in the weekend, so that was a bit disappointing, so hopefully we can have a clean weekend here”.
Punta del Este will be the second street circuit he will race in this season, as both Marrakesh and Mexico City were held on race circuits. “Santiago was not really an eye-opener because I’d driven in street tracks before, so from that perspective it didn’t really change much; but it was the first proper time with the FE car on a street circuit”.
This weekend’s circuit has the particularity of being right next to the beach, which means the track is sandy the majority of the time. Blomqvist, as well as other drivers, has spoken out about this issue.
“The sand has an influence on the track evolution. Because the wind is coming offshore, as well, and it’s blowing the sand onto the track, so if there’s no driving on track, the sand settles, so I’m expecting a bit of like a little let’s say ‘track reset’ between the sessions.
“To be on the first group of qualifying it’s going to be a disadvantage, as it normally is. There’s going to be sand we’ll have to deal with, and track evolution is going to be quite big throughout the sessions, as it will have a tendency for a reset after each session when we’re not driving”.
The Brit is aiming to have a clean weekend, after most of his Formula E races have not gone his way. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have a clean weekend yet, and it really hurts you when you have a car breaking down in practice or so on”.
He hopes Punta del Este could end this bad luck streak, as he drives for the very first time under the Uruguayan sun. “I just really want to have a clean weekend, a steady one, make sure I get everything together in the right way, and have a good one, really; so it’s definitely a tough series, the preparation is almost everything”.
Bethonie Waring
