Tom Blomqvist says JOTA ‘weren’t meant to win’ Le Mans after losing out on the LMP2 class victory by seven-tenths of a second.
Blomqvist, along with Stoffel Vandoorne and Sean Gelael, finished second in class behind Team WRT in a fiercely contested finale after the leading ORECA of Yifei Ye ground to a halt on the final lap.
This handed the lead to Robin Frijns, but with ageing tyres, the Dutchman found himself under attack from second-placed Blomqvist, who ultimately came up just short.
For the #28 JOTA crew, missing out on the victory by a narrow margin was the conclusion to a bittersweet race filled with troubles and penalties.
“To lose by seven tenths is hard but you know everything went away in this race,” said Blomqvist. “We made a few mistakes and things that obviously went against us so I mean we weren’t meant to win it.”
“The team did a great job, we had a super fast car. When I knew the gap there was around five seconds, six seconds the last lap, I knew it was gonna be tight, obviously getting to the last sector behind him… there’s nowhere really to pass, which was a bit crazy because we were so obviously racing.
“It was pretty awesome. I think it was one of the most exciting finishes for a long, long time. What a race. It was my first proper Le Mans, I mean I raced last year but to compete for victory here. It was amazing and I really enjoyed the race, I loved it.”
The team suffered a number of issues throughout the race, including a slow stop on Sunday morning, but most notably Blomqvist triggered two penalties in a row during stop under the safety car on Saturday evening.
After NorthWest AMR’s Marcos Gomes triggered a safety car with a major crash at Indianapolis, the team made a late call for Blomqvist to pit. As a result, the Briton missed the pit entry and was given a drivethrough penalty.
After that pitstop, a second penalty followed when he drove out of the pits and joined the wrong safety car queue, for which he was given a 90 second stop and go penalty.
“We made a really late call to box, so I had to cross over the line,” explained Blomqvist. “Which we knew we would get a penalty for, a drivethrough, but the loss wasn’t going to be so bad.
“So we went for that but we got caught out with the pit exit light being green. So we went out apparently you have to wait for the next safety car, if you box. So we actually got a good gain out of that.”
“It was a difficult one to take,” he said of the second penalty. “Because the pit exit light should have been red, it was green. So obviously we went out and that’s what we said.”
“So in theory, the team… the onus is on them, right? Which is a bit awkward, because the pix exit is green, you’re gonna go, you’re not gonna sit in the car because, well, yeah. You can’t blame anyone for that, we had that drivethrough, we had that 90 second stop and go.”
Another delay occurred during the night, when the team mistakenly opted to change to intermediate tyres when slicks were the better option.
“It’s a shame because our car was really fast,” Blomqvist rued. “Over the course of the race, I think we had the fastest car. I was really happy with the way I was driving, I felt really comfortable with the car. My teammates, Sean and Stoffel, did a great job as well.
“So it’s a shame to lose, we felt like we maybe we lost a win, coming so close to it is obviously… it’s still great to get second but to lose by seven tenths is bittersweet in a way. I actually would have been happier to lose by more. It was so close.”
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