Fredrik Ekblom: ”The title is Björk’s but I will fight to the end”

Fredrik Ekblom was left furious after qualifying yesterday where he was beaten by team mate and championship leader Thed Björk by a mere 0.024 seconds. That gap meant that Björk extended his championship lead to 30 points, a gap that could have been reduced to 16 points.

”I was so disappointed after that. I didn’t have the margins on my side and that has left me in a hard spot for the title fight,” said Ekblom.

Ekblom managed to get back in the Q2 session, which does not award points but decides the grid for the first race, meaning pole position. The Volvo driver won the first race of the season finale weekend, reducing the gap from 30 to 20 points.

25 points are left to be fought for in the final race, leaving Ekblom with a tough job to try and beat his team mate to the title.

”This was my best victory of 2015, no doubt. The title is Björk’s, he would need an amazing amount of bad luck in order for me to win. But I am going to go all in for the final race nonetheless and fight to the end,” said Ekblom.

Björk dropped to fourth position in the start from second on the grid, but fought back to third, a position that was above his expectations.

”I thought I would finish fifth or sixth, so this is much better. I drove a stable and tactical race. There was a couple of decisive moments during the race but I feel confident ahead of the final race,” said Björk.

The second race means a reversed grid, with Björk starting tenth and Ekblom ninth, a grid order spelling trouble, according to Björk.

”The reversed grid starts are somewhat of a lottery. I am just going to take it easy and let the others battle it out, there is no point for me to get involved in that,” said Björk.

Should Ekblom win the final race, Björk just needs to finish sixth or better to claim the title.