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Ekström scoring points for Skoda

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In the WRC round in his native Sweden, Mattias Ekström performed a great finish. After a total of 20 special stages, the local hero and Skoda Fabia WRC driver clinched a fabulous tenth place, thus even scoring valuable WRC points for the Skoda works team.

“Considering the fact that I time I lost several minutes, yesterday, due to the power steering breakdown, even a rostrum result might have been possible,” said the reigning DTM Champion. After the first day, the Audi driver had been ninth, but the power steering problems on day two made him drop back to 16th position.

On the third and last day of the Rally Sweden, however, Ekström opted for the ‘Maximum Attack’ strategy. In five of Sunday’s six special stages, the Swede clinched a top ten result, thus fighting his way back to tenth place in the overall rankings.

By this result, the Swede once again proved to be one of the fastest drivers not only at asphalted circuits alone. And the penultimate special stage offered him the opportunity of demonstrating his extraordinary skills when it comes to power-sliding with a rally car. In the 23.35-kilometre special stage ‘Rammen 2’, he finished third, thus even beating Rally Sweden winner Petter Solberg.

“I truly enjoyed this experience although I have to admit that I was frustrated yesterday evening, after having suffered the power steering problems,” said Ekström after the event, “As it would have been just incredible for me and the entire Skoda team if I had really made it to the rostrum.”

Having completed his 2005 Sweden Rally adventure, the 26-year old now looks forward to the DTM season, kicking off on 17th April, at the Hockenheimring. “Now I have to squarely focus on defending my DTM title,” added Ekström, “But maybe I will have another opportunity of driving the Fabia WRC, sometime.”