Tom Blomqvist to make Bathurst 12 Hours debut

Tom Blomqvist will make his debut at the Bathurst 12 Hours (Jan 31 - Feb 2) as he joins 59Racing in the team’s PRO-entry #60 McLaren 720S GT3.

For Tom, this will be his first-ever race at the Bathurst 12 Hours and his first-ever race behind the wheel of a non-BMW marque as he joins Alvaro Parente and Ben Barnicoat in the McLaren 720SGT3.

For 59Racing, which was only established in 2019, it is the first Bathurst event and a great opportunity to build on the team’s hard work from the past 12 months in Australia GT.

Joining a strong driver lineup, Tom’s teammate Alvaro Parente was the winner of the 2016 Bathurst 12 Hour with McLaren and has previously won the Pirelli World Challenge in the United States with McLaren. Ben Barnicoat meanwhile, is a McLaren factory driver and has recently competed in the Asian and European Le Mans Series.

Tom brings with him a vast amount of GT experience, having raced in the World Endurance Championship, Blancpain GT Series, Intercontinental GT Challenge, VLN and IMSA. Tom’s GT highlight came in 2018 when he secured victory at the biggest GT3 race in the world - the 24 Hours of Spa.

Having also competed in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship and DTM, Tom most recent exploits saw him compete in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship racing the BMW M8 GTE across the United States.

“I am very much looking forward to joining 59Racing at Bathurst and driving the McLaren 720S.

Having never raced at Bathurst before it looks like a very challenging circuit, but I have some great co-drivers that I'm sure will help me. I'm looking forward to racing with Alvaro, Ben, and the whole team.”

The race weekend for the LIQUI-MOLY Bathurst 12 Hours gets underway on January 31 with the first of five practice sessions, with qualifying taking place on Saturday and the race getting underway at 5:45am (local) on Sunday morning.