Mattias Ekström: “It was like my brain shut down”

Mattias Ekström won the DTM race at Oschersleben last year. A result that was changed to eighth this year.
“One of the toughest weekends in modern time,” said Ekström.

The Swede qualified fifth but stalled his Audi on the grid, braked too late in to the first corner and dropped to last position.
“As the track is nearly impossible to pass on, I decided early to take all risk possible to gain a position or two for the first corner. I pre-loaded the car as much as I could, but unfortunately I got a bit too much of the good stuff and I stalled. It was tough and after that it was like my brain shut down. I braked too late as my head was gone,” said Ekström.

Ekström fought his way from last to eighth position and the Audi driver was pleased.
“After the troublesome start, the car was perfect. If you are last and manages to get eight and claim some points, you have to be reasonably happy. But it was still one of the toughest race weekends in modern time,” said Ekström.

With two race weekends left, Ekström is seventh in the standings on 66 points compared to championship leader Gary Paffett’s 127 points.