Stig Blomqvist | |
|---|---|
Blomqvist in January 2012 | |
| Born | (1946-07-29)29 July 1946 (age 79) Örebro, Sweden |
| Children | Tom Blomqvist |
| Personal information | |
| Nationality | |
| World Rally Championship record | |
| Active years | 1973–2006 |
| Co-driver | |
| Teams | Saab,Talbot,Audi,Ford,Peugeot,Volkswagen,Nissan,Škoda |
| Rallies | 122 |
| Championships | 1 (1984) |
| Rally wins | 11 |
| Podiums | 33 |
| Stage wins | 486 |
| Total points | 573 |
| First rally | 1973 Swedish Rally |
| First win | 1973 Swedish Rally |
| Last win | 1984Rallye Côte d'Ivoire |
| Last rally | 2006 Swedish Rally |
Stig Lennart Blomqvist (born 29 July 1946) is a retired Swedishrally driver. He made his international breakthrough in 1981. Driving anAudi Quattro for theAudi factory team, Blomqvist won theWorld Rally Championshipdrivers' title in1984 and finished runner-up in1985. He won his home event, theSwedish Rally, seven times.
Outside the WRC, he won theBritish Rally Championship in 1983 and the Swedish Rally Championship several times.[quantify] At theRace of Champions, Blomqvist took the title "Champion of Champions" in 1989 and 1990.
Stig Blomqvist acquired his driving licence at the age of 18, and immediately took second place in a 1964 local rally event near the Swedish town ofKarlstad, behind the wheel of aSaab 96. After his education as adriving instructor, together with later teammatePer Eklund at theKvinnersta Folkhögskola outside of Örebro, he proceeded to drive with theSaab team, and achieved his first international victories in 1971; first winning theSwedish Rally, then the1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and theRAC Rally in Great Britain. These performances helped Saab gain second place behindAlpine-Renault in theInternational Championship for Manufacturers, the predecessor to theWorld Rally Championship.

Blomqvist went on to win the Swedish Rally again in 1972 (Saab 96 V4),1973 (Saab 96 V4), which marked his first WRC event and win, 1977 (Saab 99 EMS) and 1979 (Saab 99 Turbo).[1] Outside the WRC, he won the 1973Cyprus Rally, the 1976Boucles de Spa and the Swedish Rally Championship several times. His long-time association with Saab ended when the Saab Sport department hung up their spurs in 1981. Driving aTalbot Sunbeam Lotus in 1981, Blomqvist finished eighth in the 1000 Lakes and third at the RAC.[1]
For the1982 season,Audi Sport, Audi's factory team, signed Blomqvist to drive theQuattro in a few events alongsideHannu Mikkola andMichèle Mouton. He won the Swedish Rally, finished second in the 1000 Lakes and then took his first WRC victory outside his home country by winning theRallye Sanremo.[1] Audi then signed Blomqvist as their third regular driver for thefollowing season. Blomqvist scored seven podiums, including a win in the season-ending RAC Rally, and finished fourth in thedrivers' world championship.[1] In theBritish Rally Championship, he captured the title by winning four of the six events.

In the1984 season, Blomqvist drove the Quattro A2 and the Sport Quattro evolutions to five victories, and finished second at theMonte Carlo Rally.[1] Beating Mikkola to the title, he became the second Swedish world rally champion afterBjörn Waldegård. His first place in theRallye Côte d'Ivoire would remain his career-last victory in the WRC. The1985 season saw him finish runner-up toTimo Salonen of the newPeugeot Talbot Sport team headed byJean Todt. His best result was second; at the Swedish Rally, the 1000 Lakes and theAcropolis Rally.[1] In the lastGroup B season in1986, Blomqvist competed for Ford in anRS200 and for Peugeot in a205 Turbo 16 E2, recording his only podium at theRally Argentina.[1]
During the first twoGroup A years, Blomqvist continued with Ford and drove aFord Sierra RS Cosworth, finishing on the podium three times.[1] He also drove for Volkswagen Motorsport and finished third in a Golf Mk 2 16V on the 1989 Safari Rally.The1990 WRC season was the series' first without Blomqvist in action. In1991 and1992, he drove aNissan Sunny GTI-R for Nissan Motorsports Europe,Nissan's factory team. At the 1992 Swedish Rally, Blomqvist took third place, which would remain his last podium spot in the WRC.[1]
Later in the 1990s, he used his experience of two-wheel drive cars and helpedŠkoda Motorsport to develop theŠkoda Felicia Kit Car. During a guest appearance at the 1996 RAC Rally, when the event was not on the WRC schedule, the 50-year-old veteran finished third overall with the car.[1] That same year, he finished seventh in theSafari Rally in aFord Escort RS Cosworth. This would remain his last points-finish in the World Rally Championship.[1]
After only three events in four years, Blomqvist returned to the role of a regular WRC competitor. Together with co-driverAna Goñi, he drove aGroup N category David Sutton CarsMitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 in twelve events in 2001, finishing fifth overall in theProduction World Rally Championship (PWRC).[1] In 2003, he finished third in the PWRC championship in aSubaru Impreza WRX STI.[1] In his last world rally, the2006 Swedish Rally, Blomqvist drove the Impreza to 24th place overall and was fourth fastest in Group N.[2]
In September 2008, Blomqvist was due to take part in theColin McRae Forest Stages Rally, a round of theScottish Rally Championship centred inPerth in Scotland, in aFord Escort Mk2 with Goñi as his co-driver. The rally was held in memory of McRae, who died in 2007.[3]

He has lived in the UK for many years, based inSaffron Walden,Essex. His son,Tom Blomqvist, has followed in his motorsports footsteps, becoming the youngest everFormula Renault UK champion in 2010, at the age of 16.[4] Tom currently competes in theIMSA SportsCar Championship forMeyer Shank Racing and has competed inIndyCar for the team in2023 and the2024 seasons.
| # | Event | Season | Co-driver | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1973 | Arne Hertz | Saab 96 V4 | |
| 2 | 1977 | Hans Sylvan | Saab 99 EMS | |
| 3 | 1979 | Björn Cederberg | Saab 99 Turbo | |
| 4 | 1982 | Björn Cederberg | Audi Quattro | |
| 5 | 1982 | Björn Cederberg | Audi Quattro | |
| 6 | 1983 | Björn Cederberg | Audi Quattro A2 | |
| 7 | 1984 | Björn Cederberg | Audi Quattro A2 | |
| 8 | 1984 | Björn Cederberg | Audi Quattro A2 | |
| 9 | 1984 | Björn Cederberg | Audi Quattro A2 | |
| 10 | 1984 | Björn Cederberg | Audi Quattro A2 | |
| 11 | 1984 | Björn Cederberg | Audi Sport Quattro |
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Saab Scania | Saab 96 V4 | MON | SWE 2 | ITA | KEN | AUT | GRE | GBR Ret | ||
| 1971 | Saab Scania | Saab 96 V4 | MON | SWE 1 | ITA | KEN 13 | MAR | AUT | GRE | GBR 1 | |
| 1972 | Saab Scania | Saab 96 V4 | MON | SWE 1 | KEN | MAR | GRE Ret | AUT Ret | ITA | USA | GBR 2 |
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ERC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Saab | Saab 96 V4 Turbo | AUT1 | GER1 | FIN | SWE 10 | BEL | AUT2 | NED | GBR1 | GER2 | GBR2 | 37th | 1 |
| 1978 | Saab | Saab 99 Turbo | AUT | ITA | SWE 4 | FIN | BEL | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | 36th | 10 |
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ERX | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Saab | Saab 99 Turbo | AUT | ITA | FIN | SWE | FRA | BEL | NED 6 | GBR | GER | 18th | 6 | |
| 1981 | Saab | Saab 99 Turbo | AUT | SWE 9 | FIN | DEN | BEL | NED | FRA | NOR | GBR | GER | 32nd | 2 |
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | ERX | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Stig Blomqvist | Ford RS200 E2 | SPA | AUT | SWE 7 | FIN 3 | IRE | FRA | BEL 3 | NED 3 | NOR | GBR | GER | 11th | 55 |
| 1994 | Stig Blomqvist | Ford Escort RS Cosworth | AUT | POR | FRA | IRE | GBR | SWE | FIN | BEL | NED | NOR 5 | GER | 21st | 12 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Volvo 240T | MNZ | JAR | DIJ | NÜR | SPA | BNO | SIL | BAT | CLD | WEL ovr:13 cls:8† | FJI | NC | 0 |
† Not eligible for points.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position in class) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap in class)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Overall Pos | Pts | Class Pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Trakstar Motorsport | Ford Sierra RS500 | A | OUL | DON ovr:2‡ cls:2‡ | THR | SIL | OUL | SIL | BRH | SNE | BRH | BIR | DON | THR | SIL | NC‡ | 0 | NC‡ |
Source:[5] | |||||||||||||||||||
‡ Endurance driver – not eligible for points
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Autosport International Rally Driver Award 1983 | Succeeded by |
| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by | World Rally Champion 1984 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Race of Champions Champion of Champions 1989–1990 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Race of Champions Rally Master 1993 | Succeeded by |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by | Youngest rally winner 26 years, 203 days (1973 Swedish Rally) | Succeeded by |