Stig Blomqvist

Career

Blomqvist earned his driving licence at 18 and immediately took second place in a 1964 local rally near Karlstad, Sweden, driving a Saab 96. After training as a driving instructor at the Kvinnersta Folkhögskola outside Örebro alongside future teammate Per Eklund, he joined the Saab team. His first international victories came in 1971: the Swedish Rally, the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland, and the RAC Rally in Great Britain. These performances helped Saab secure second place behind Alpine-Renault in the International Championship for Manufacturers.

He won the Swedish Rally again in 1972 (Saab 96 V4), 1973 (Saab 96 V4, his first WRC event and win), 1977 (Saab 99 EMS), and 1979 (Saab 99 Turbo). Outside the WRC, he took the 1973 Cyprus Rally, the 1976 Boucles de Spa, and several Swedish Rally Championship titles. His long association with Saab ended when the Saab Sport department closed in 1981. That year, driving a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, he finished eighth in the 1000 Lakes and third at the RAC.

For the 1982 season, Audi Sport signed him to drive the Quattro in a few events alongside Hannu Mikkola and Michèle Mouton. He won the Swedish Rally, finished second in the 1000 Lakes, and took his first WRC victory outside Sweden at the Rallye Sanremo. Audi then made him their third regular driver for 1983. That season he scored seven podiums, including a win at the season-ending RAC Rally, and finished fourth in the drivers' world championship.

He also captured the British Rally Championship by winning four of six events. In 1984, driving the Quattro A2 and Sport Quattro evolutions, he won five rallies and placed second at the Monte Carlo Rally. Beating Mikkola to the title, he became the second Swedish world rally champion after Björn Waldegård. His win at the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire would remain his last WRC victory.

The 1985 season saw him finish runner-up to Timo Salonen of Peugeot Talbot Sport, with second places at the Swedish Rally, the 1000 Lakes, and the Acropolis Rally. In the final Group B season of 1986, he competed for Ford in an RS200 and for Peugeot in a 205 Turbo 16 E2, recording his only podium at the Rally Argentina. During the first two Group A years, he continued with Ford in a Sierra RS Cosworth, finishing on the podium three times. He also drove for Volkswagen Motorsport, finishing third in a Golf Mk 2 16V on the 1989 Safari Rally.

The 1990 WRC season was the first without Blomqvist in action. In 1991 and 1992, he drove a Nissan Sunny GTI-R for Nissan Motorsports Europe, taking third at the 1992 Swedish Rally, his last WRC podium. Later in the 1990s, he helped Škoda Motorsport develop the Škoda Felicia Kit Car. At the 1996 RAC Rally, the 50-year-old finished third overall with the car.

That same year, he finished seventh in the Safari Rally in a Ford Escort RS Cosworth, his last WRC points-finish. In 2001, he drove a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 in twelve events, finishing fifth overall in the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC). In 2003, he finished third in the PWRC championship in a Subaru Impreza WRX STI. His last world rally was the 2006 Swedish Rally, where he drove the Impreza to 24th overall and was fourth fastest in Group N. In September 2008, he was due to take part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally in a Ford Escort Mk2 with co-driver Ana Goñi.

Blomqvist has lived in the UK for many years, based in Saffron Walden, Essex. His son, Tom Blomqvist, became the youngest ever Formula Renault UK champion in 2010 at age 16 and currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Meyer Shank Racing, also competing in IndyCar for the team in 2023 and 2024.