Mattias Ekström: “Jamie was the best of us this year”

Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline driver Mattias Ekström was second today in the final race of the 2015 DTM season in Hockenheim, finishing his 15th season in the series in third position in the drivers’ standings. Despite leading the manufacturer’s fight during most part of the year, the Swede doesn’t think he was the top man at Audi.

Ekström finished in second place, his first podium since Moscow and after a long spell of difficult races with very few points collected. The Swede was satisfied with the job done today: “My start wasn’t good”, Ekström said to TouringCarTimes. “I knew I had a strong pace and that I could do things. I saw that Maxime Martin was struggling a bit, so I went for him and, then, I was able to also overtake Paffett. I then tried to pull to catch Jamie. With five laps to go, my front left tyre started to struggle and I hoped he had a similar problem, but I couldn’t catch him in the end.”

The year had a bittersweet end for Audi Sport, who hasn’t won any titles this season. Ekström’s pull dwindled in the latter part of the season. The Team Abt Sportsline driver thinks the Drivers’ title was difficult from the beginning: “We had a very strong car and showed that during the season, but the internal competition at Audi was very high. Whilst in Mercedes, for instance, they were able to focus in just one driver, we had a lot of competition among ourselves, so it was difficult to get support from our team-mates.”

Jamie Green had a strong start of the year, and then a lot of difficulties during the mid season. The Briton was fast again in Hockenheim, with a second place yesterday and a win today, which allowed him to finish in second place in the drivers’ standings. Ekström was full of praise for his fellow Audi driver: “Out of all of us, Jamie was definitely the best. He was fast, hard working and the one we had to follow. It was a shame he had bad luck, he should have been able to fight for the title until the end.”

Mattias Ekström finished the season in third place in the standings, 22 points behind Mercedes’ Pascal Wehrlein and 3 after Jamie Green. The Swede got two victories and three podiums this year.