Tom Blomqvist’s super Sachsenring weekend came to fruition with the win in the Pool FAST DHL Super Final meaning he is unbeatable in the Race DE King of the Weekend standings. The CUPRA EKS driver secured maximum points through his heats and although this points tally can still be matched by his team-mate Adrien Tambay, a faster qualifying time for Blomqvist means he would win the tie-breaker.
Pole-sitter Blomqvist had another strong race with team-mate starting from P2, Mattias Ekström providing early tail-gunner duties, but Ekström was unable to drive quite as wide a CUPRA as he’d like and Hyundai Motorsport N’s Nicky Catsburg would not need a second invitation when the opportunity arose. This came at the end of the second lap, with Catsburg past on the inside, and Ekström’s left rear just touching the loose stuff meaning the rest of the exceptionally close field would stream past too, all bar Giovanni Venturini, who was very nearly through in his Romeo Ferraris as well.
As Castburg now closed on Blomqvist, so Jean-Karl Vernay make his Hyundai Motorsport N Veloster N ETCR a nightmare for Maxime Martin, in third place in his Romeo Ferraris Giulia ETCR. Catsburg, once more, was the most visibily the man on a charge but Blomqvist kept his head, even as Catsburg tried every opportunity he had.
Further back, Martin managed to drop Vernay who was realively easy prey for a recovering Ekström who then took up the mantle of harassing Martin, with the entire field only separated by two seconds as it started the penultimate lap. On that lap Venturini found his way past Vernay, with the Frenchman down to the final dregs of Power Up magic.
The last lap started with a slightly more spread-out field, albeit with Power Up plans in the pockets of all the drivers. Blomqvist now only had to keep his focus, whilst Catsburg was unfortunate to leave a partially open door as he looked ahead at the final corner and when he tried to close it, it was too late as Martin was alongside. Catsburg spun 180 as the rest of the field followed through for Martin and Ekström to take their podium places. Venturini remained ahead of Vernay, who had dropped right back and Catsburg was the final finisher.
Pool FAST DHL Super Final Grid
Pool FAST DHL Super Final Results
Pool FAST Drivers Final Sachsenring Standings
Tom Blomqvist CUPRA EKS
I’m happy, I’m very happy. Perfect weekend for me so I’m really happy. The weekend didn’t start great as I was a bit off the pace, but anyway it was then three clean races for me where everything kind of went to plan. I was a little bit nervous here for a second or two when to when I had some pressure from the boys behind, but I kept cool and and the car was really great so for me personally a great way to end the season.
Mattias Eksröm CUPRA EKS
I’m happy for Tom that he managed to nail his race and to secure a one two three in FIA ETCR is pretty awesome. I’m very happy for the team, this weekend was so good. I enjoyed all my races with some beautiful battles; very, very intense and very close. I’m very happy for Tom as he had a perfect weekend. Let’s see what happens in the final final for Adrien and Jordi.
Maxime Martin Romeo Ferraris
At the end there was a really good race, a nice final with a lot of battles, a lot of fights and, yeah, a few bits of contact here and there, but coming from P4 to be P2 on this track I think was a really good way to finish. It was really nice to work with Romeo Ferraris and I’m looking forward to the future.
Giovanni Venturini Romeo Ferraris
So we had some fun in the final and I recovered from P6 to P4. The car was really good but the pace of the cars was really similar so it was tricky to gain position. But anyway, good points in front of Hyundai Motorsport, so that’s important and a good final for the season.
Jean-Karl Vernay Hyundai Motorsport N
The start of the Super Final was really good, Nicky did a great job and I was able to overtake Martin but after that he hit me and damaged the rear of my car. The rear right was bent I had massive oversteer after that; I tried to fight and to help Nicky by coming back at Martin but it wasn’t possible. I’m really disappointed to finish the season like this, it wasn’t my greatest season ever but we always want to finish on a high.
Nicky Catsburg Hyundai Motorsport N
It would have been a P2 but unfortunately I got together with Maxime in the last corner. He went for a gap that I left there – I don’t think he would have made the corner without me but it is what it is. I hope it doesn’t influence the manufacturers’ standings too much but I can’t change the circumstance now. Overall I’m feeling very positive, in the end what happened today is what it is, but personally I really enjoy this championship if the waiting times during the day are not that long. I love it.
Overall Drivers Standings Post Pool FAST DHL Super Final
