until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Tom Blomqvist could get a chance to race for the Panasonic Jaguar team in the final two races in Berlin next month after being announced as a reserve driver by the team today.
The former Andretti Formula E driver has joined the team to cover 2019/20 Jaguar reserve Alex Lynn for the six races but may take over James Calado’s race seat for the final double-header event on August 12/13.
This is because Calado is contractually obliged to attend the WEC 6 Hours of Spa, which has an official practice session on Thursday 13 August, the date of the final Formula E race of the season at Tempelhof.
A spokesperson for the AF Corse Ferrari GT team told The Race last week that Calado “will be at Spa for the entire event, FP1 included”.
With the final of the three Berlin track configurations being a completely new layout, it is expected that Jaguar will choose to utilise one driver rather than split the races between Calado and Blomqvist.
However, The Race understands that negotiations between Jaguar and Ferrari are still ongoing about Calado’s availability and that the potential still exists for Calado to complete the full season.
Calado’s manager Nicolas Todt is known to be looking for a new 2020-21 Formula E deal for his client.
Jaguar had initially bargained on Alex Lynn driving in the event of any clashes this season but when Pascal Wehrlein’s vacant seat at Mahindra became available, before the final confirmation of the Berlin dates, Lynn took up an offer from Mahindra boss Dilbagh Gill.
Lynn had flexibility in his reserve and development deal with Jaguar which allowed him to compete for a rival should a racing opportunity arise.
Lynn would have originally subbed for Calado at the Sanya E-Prix in March had it happened because it clashed with the 12 Hours of Sebring. Lynn is believed to have had more flexibility in his Aston Martin Racing contract, which would have seen him race in Sanya.
Ho-Pin Tung has previously acted as test and reserve driver for Jaguar but is yet to have driven the current Gen-2 car on track.
The Race understands that Tung was considered as a replacement for Calado in Berlin. It is not yet clear if he will attend the Berlin events in his Jaguar role and as a co-commentator for the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY or be utilised in the team’s simulator at its Grove headquarters.
Although Blomqvist (pictured above) competed in seven races for Andretti in the 2017-18 season, he was replaced by Stephane Sarrazin at the team for the Tempelhof round.
During his time at Andretti he scored three points after finishing eighth on his debut at Marrakesh in January of 2018. Since then he has raced in IMSA with the BMW Team RLL squad.
By regulation Formula E teams are forbidden to change drivers in the last three races of a season. The Race understands that despite the unusual circumstances of the pandemic-affected 2019-20 season the regulation is still enforced.
However, the enforcement is at the discretion of the stewards of the meeting, and teams’ individual circumstances are taken into account. It is expected that the stewards would sanction the change if it is requested by Jaguar.
The deadline for driver changes relating to the final races of the season passed yesterday.
