Saffron Walden’s Tom Blomqvist had a weekend of misfortune at the inaugural Rome ePrix.

Saffron Walden Reporter: Saffron Walden's Tom Blomqvist (pic Julian Kroehl/MB Partners Ltd)Saffron Walden's Tom Blomqvist (pic Julian Kroehl/MB Partners Ltd) (Image: Archant)

The 24-year-old BMW works driver qualified in 12th place, but was spun around on lap two of the race and had to fight his way from the back of the field to a 15th-placed finish.

He said: “It was a difficult race. I was hit from behind and spun around on the second lap which put me into last place.

“Then we ran out of energy on the last lap before coming in for the pit stop and got stuck in the pit lane. We lost a lot of time there. Basically from there the race was extremely compromised and it was pretty disappointing not being able to have a clean run. That would have been nice after a decent qualifying.”

After disappointing rounds in Mexico and Uruguay, Blomqvist headed to the first Rome ePrix confident of returning to the points positions as ABB FIA Formula E travelled to Italy for the first European leg of the season.

Blomqvist and his MS&AD Andretti team concentrated on race pace at the start of practice, finishing the first session in 20th. Second practice saw a first full power lap of the weekend leave Blomqvist in ninth.

With 20 drivers drawn into four groups of five for qualifying, Blomqvist was put, for the fourth time in five races, into group one which made his chances of the super pole shootout slim.

As the track returned to its neutral condition after the hour-long break after free practice, he had just six minutes to try to post his quickest time possible but a perfectly timed out-lap saw the young Brit cross the line two seconds before the flag dropped.

A 1:37.561 lap-time was the fastest in group one by over half a second and secured provisional pole but after the rest of the drivers had gone out, Blomqvist ended up 12th on the grid.

He got a good start off the line but as the pack in front of him concertinaed, Blomqvist was boxed out with nowhere to go.

The race then took a disastrous turn as he was spun around on lap two and fell to the back of the field, but Blomqvist pushed his ATEC-003 and increased power before running out of energy on the last lap before his pit stop.

Stuck in the pit lane he lost a lot of time before getting into his second car and returning to the race and taking 15th place.

The eighth race of the season is the Paris ePrix on April 28.