Blomqvist acquired his driving licence at the age of 18 and immediately took second place in a 1964 local rally event near Karlstad, Sweden, driving a Saab 96. After his education as a driving instructor alongside Per Eklund at the Kvinnersta Folkhögskola, he drove for the Saab team and achieved his first international victories in 1971, winning the Swedish Rally, the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland, and the RAC Rally in Great Britain. These performances helped Saab gain second place behind Alpine-Renault in the International Championship for Manufacturers.
Blomqvist won the Swedish Rally again in 1972, 1973, 1977, and 1979, driving Saab 96 V4 and Saab 99 Turbo models. He also won the 1973 Cyprus Rally and the 1976 Boucles de Spa. His long-time association with Saab ended when the Saab Sport department ceased operations in 1981. Blomqvist then drove a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus in 1981, finishing eighth in the 1000 Lakes and third at the RAC.
For the 1982 season, Audi Sport signed Blomqvist to drive the Quattro alongside Hannu Mikkola and Michèle Mouton. He won the Swedish Rally and the Rallye Sanremo. In 1983, Blomqvist scored seven podiums, including a win at the RAC Rally, and finished fourth in the drivers' world championship. He also won the British Rally Championship with four event victories.
In 1984, Blomqvist drove the Quattro A2 and Sport Quattro evolutions to five victories and finished second at the Monte Carlo Rally. He became the second Swedish world rally champion after Björn Waldegård. His first place in the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire would remain his career-last victory in the WRC. The 1985 season saw him finish runner-up to Timo Salonen, with second-place finishes at the Swedish Rally, the 1000 Lakes, and the Acropolis Rally. In 1986, Blomqvist competed for Ford and Peugeot, achieving a podium at the Rally Argentina.
During the Group A years, Blomqvist drove a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, securing three podium finishes. He also drove for Volkswagen Motorsport, finishing third in a Golf Mk 2 16V at the 1989 Safari Rally. After a year away from the WRC in 1990, Blomqvist returned in 1991 and 1992, driving a Nissan Sunny GTI-R for Nissan Motorsports Europe. He took third place at the 1992 Swedish Rally, his last WRC podium.
Later, Blomqvist helped Škoda Motorsport develop the Škoda Felicia Kit Car. In 1996, he finished third overall at the RAC Rally and seventh in the Safari Rally in a Ford Escort RS Cosworth. This was his last points finish in the World Rally Championship.
Beyond rally, Blomqvist also competed in rallycross. He achieved podium finishes in the European Rallycross Championship, including a third-place result in 1976 .
Blomqvist returned to competition in 2001, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 and finishing fifth in the Production World Rally Championship. In 2003, he finished third in the PWRC championship in a Subaru Impreza WRX STI. His final world rally appearance was the 2006 Swedish Rally, where he drove the Impreza to 24th place overall and was fourth fastest in Group N.
Blomqvist has lived in the UK for many years, based in Saffron Walden, Essex. His son, Tom Blomqvist, has followed in his motorsport footsteps, becoming the youngest ever Formula Renault UK champion in 2010 and currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and IndyCar. Throughout his career, Blomqvist was partnered by several co-drivers, though specific details of these partnerships are not readily available .
The corpus used for this article includes information from Stig Blomqvist's profile on World Rally Archive. No primary archives, autobiographies, period programmes, or specialist publications were consulted.
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