Who am I? That is what I have been asking for a while. Let me introduce myself. I am Molly Blomqvist and yes I am the daughter of the rally legend Stig Blomqvist. People often think the reason why I am in the crazy world of Rallying and RallyCross is due to the fact that I want to carry on my father's legacy. Well as always it is a little more complicated than that. Just because I race under the Swedish flag doesn't give the media the right to assume I am being a daddy's girl. I can feel my face scrunch up as the thought crosses my mind. I just need to focus on the challenge ahead. This is the race that my RallyCross career has brought me to. It is the last race of the 2021 season and if I finish the race ahead of my rival Timmy Hanson, I will be the first woman to win the World RallyCross championship. At least I will have a challenge on my hands. Timmy is the kind of person that will do almost anything to win.
"What's wrong Molly?" My teammate Johan Kristoffersson asks.
"Nothing. I'm just bothered about what is going to happen to me after the race," I explained my situation to him. He seems to understand where I am coming from. The only people that know how I really feel are Timmy and his brother Kevin. Like me, they come from a racing family.
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Johan responded. He is right. I am probably overreacting. I just know the media will have a field day if I win. I take a drawn-out breath as I pull my hair into a basic bun. I should really get my hair cut short at some stage. Oh well, there is not much that I can do. I need to win the race. It doesn't take long for me to finish getting ready. With the customary good luck pat from Johan, I am now ready to go. After five minutes of waiting the lights are about to go out. I can feel the tension in the air. I need a good start to get ahead of Timmy. Three Two One. Lights out. As soon as I notice I launch the car. Disaster soon strikes. A loud crunch echoes through the cockpit of my car. I glance to my side to find that Kevin has made contact. The car suddenly feels heavier.
"Dammit. I've lost power steering," I use the radio to inform my lead engineer of the problem.
"Ok. We've seen that and we have notified the stewards. If you can't hold on feel free to retire. Just let us know," My lead engineer replied. Despite the issues, I push into first place. Well, the next forty-five minutes are going to be hell. I grit my teeth as I get to work on maintaining my first place position. As the race goes on I am starting to tire out. No, I can't, I need to keep Kevin and Timmy behind me. So far it has worked but I know that they are going to try and get past me eventually. I find myself in a bit of a lucky situation. Johan has taken his joker lap so that he can get ahead of Kevin.
"Can someone thank Johan for me?" I ask via the radio. Since we are teammates I won't have to worry about him.
"Already done. Now you just need to make sure it was worth it," My lead engineer replies.
"That is the plan," I retort. There is no way that I am going to throw away my chance at winning the championship. After five more minutes of brutal work, I have spotted the chequered flag. Just in time. A second later I crossed the finish line. I am flooded with relief. Now I can relax. Well, I won't be able to relax for long. I'm sure the media will be going wild.
"Congratulations Molly. You are the RX world champion. Timmy is in second and Johan is in third," My lead engineer announces. Well, that means my life is about to change. It doesn't take long for me to reach the Parc Ferme area. With some help from Johan, I made it onto the podium. I am that exhausted. That is the problem with having a collision. Things go wrong. At least I had the strength to actually get through the race without too much in the way of problems. I guess I have my dad to thank for my determination. It has been a few weeks since then and my life has taken an interesting turn. I have been asked to join Mclaren XE as their female driver. Another project for me to distance myself from my famous last name. The thing is I love my dad to bits but the media don't like the idea that I am my own person. Hence why I am having a go at Extreme E with Mclaren XE. Right now I am getting ready for the driver announcement. I am apprehensive as not only am I the first female RallyCross champion I am also Mclaren's first female driver full stop. I take a deep breath as I am joined by my new teammate Tanner Foust. Unlike me, he seems to be in his element.
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Tanner pulls me out of my thoughts.
"Easy enough for you to say. I have a reputation," I retort. God, I hate the feeling of uneasiness. I am definitely not used to this kind of attention. I just want to hurry up and test the car.
"So you are related to Stig. Thought so," Tanner responds. He doesn't seem to care. The fact puts my mind at ease.
"Yeah I'm his daughter," I explain as a makeup artist applies a basic layer of makeup on my face. Well, that means it is time for me to be a part of something new and hopefully exciting. It doesn't take long for the preparations to be completed. I soon joined the host on stage followed by Tanner. She starts with a short driver profile on us then she quickly moves on to some fan questions.
"First of all, what drew you both to Extreme E?" The interviewer asks. Tanner glances at me as if to say ladies first. Well here goes nothing.
"I think it is a good thing that Extreme E can give us the opportunity to bring attention to issues caused by climate change while having entertaining racing," I give my answer. To my surprise, Tanner doesn't have much to add. After a long forty-five minutes, the interview has come to an end. It is the day after and it is the day that I was looking forward to, however, it is on the verge of being ruined as the media headlines are bothering me. I just have to ignore them for now because I have some work to do. I am quick to pull myself into the car alongside Tanner. I wonder if he will make a good passenger. I hope so as I will be able to hear him complaining otherwise.
"Are you ready?" Tanner checks on me as I double-check the adjustments on the seatbelts.
"Thought you would never ask," I reply. After getting the go-ahead from the lead engineer I get to work on getting the car around the track. It is proving to be an interesting experience as the car is performing beyond my expectations. To be fair they were low to keep me from being disappointed in case anything went wrong. After a couple of laps of pushing Tanner and I awkwardly exchange seats. I guess the actual driver's swap is something that we will have to work out later.
"Now would be a good time to apologise. I am not the best passenger," I remark as I get comfortable.
"It's ok. No race car driver is," Tanner confirms something that I have known for a while. With that Tanner launches the car. The power catches me by surprise. I try to hold back the urge to squeal. The only sound to come out of my mouth is a grunt as the car hits the ground after Tanner took a jump a little too aggressively. It is something that is typical of American drivers. After a painful two minutes, Tanner's turn comes to an end. All I can say is now I understand why Johan speaks highly of Extreme E. It has been a week since then and I am back home for a bit. Now I can finally relax after the craziest year of my life so far. It will be interesting to see what will happen as a new chapter of my life begins.
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Finding Myself (An Extreme E Story)
Fiksi PenggemarMolly Blomqvist knew that the media attention was on her older brother. She has used that to her advantage. That is until she grabs their attention by becoming the first female driver to win the World RallyCross championship. With that, she sets out...
