Blomqvist replaced by Farfus at BMW Team RLL due to visa issues

Tom Blomqvist will miss next weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona due to visa issues with BMW Team RLL calling up Augusto Farfus as his replacement in the #25 car.

The British driver had been gearing up for his Rolex 24 race with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-run BMW squad but has confirmed he is unable to reach the race because of a problem with his United States visa.

With less than one week until the race, BMW have called on experienced hand Farfus to take his place. The Brazilian driver had competed with the team at the iconic endurance race in BMW machinery for the past five consecutive years, with the highlight of second place in class and fifth place overall in 2015 during the final year of the BMW Z4 GTLM.

“Unfortunately due to a complex issue around a visa I will have to miss next weekend’s Daytona 24,” Blomqvist tweeted. “I’m hugely disappointed, as you can imagine! It’s not the end of the world and as they say, when life hands you lemons make lemonade.”

Farfus will jump into the #25 BMW Team RLL driver line-up alongside Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng and Colton Herta. Alex Zanardi remains the star driver in the sister BMW #24 car with Jesse Krohn, John Edwards and Chaz Mostert in an unchanged line-up.

An updated Rolex 24 at Daytona entry list can be found here.

The 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona takes place at Daytona International Speedway on January 26-27 as the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech championship.

Unfortunately due to a complex issue around a visa I will have to miss next weekends Daytona 24. I’m hugely disappointed, as you can imagine! It’s not the end of the world and as they say, when life hands you lemons make lemonade #Rolex24 #Imsa50 #Daytona24 #Mission8 #BMW #M8 pic.twitter.com/wmD4qvumJA

— Tom Blomqvist (@tom_blomqvist) January 20, 2019