Fredrik Ekblom – A man on a mission for STCC 2011

Fredrik Ekblom starts his third season with Volkswagen in the STCC 2011, a year that he plans to clinch his fourth title and join rival Richard Göransson in the quadruple STCC champions room.
“My goal this year is the title, no doubt about that. But it is going to be hard, perhaps harder than ever,” said Ekblom to TouringCarTimes.com.

While STCC is joined by several international touring car stars, such as the three BTCC champions Rydell, Thompson and Turkington, Ekblom does not see them as the main increase in opposition.

“I can’t see that they are going to drive around Knutstorp or Karlskoga quicker than the drivers they are replacing [Dahlgren at Volvo and Björk at BMW]. The overall international status of the championship on the other hand is increasing with them in the fight and that is positive,” said Ekblom.

The Volkswagen-driver instead points his eyes towards a number of different points, such as the Danish drivers.

“I think it is going to be much tougher driving this year. There are many drivers that does not “know” each other and there are many good Danes out there. We did not really race against them last year when we raced together as they were not competing for the same championship. But that is different this year,” said Ekblom.

Ekblom finished third in the championship last year, beaten by BMW-man and champion Göransson and runner-up Dahlgren. While Ekblom had a shot at the title in the last race mathematically, he does not rank him self as ever really being in for the title last year.

“We were there because of smart driving and consistency, not because of raw speed. I was the sole driver to finish all races in the championship, but we did not have the overall pace. We were quick on low weight and on certain tracks, but not everywhere and not with weight in the cars, something that is crucial in order to be in the title race,” said Ekblom.

The main concern for the Volkswagen team Biogas.se/Kristoffersson Motorsport during the pre-season testing is according to Ekblom to increase driveability of the Scirocco.

“The car is really quick on the straights, we got good torque from the engine and its good through the air. But we wear out the tyres too quick in the races and we are too slow in the corners. Adding penalty weight on that makes it even worse. We need to work hard on improving the driveability, there is a lot of ground to be made there,” said Ekblom.

The 40-year-old Swede is confident that the work during the off season is going to pay off for the team this year.

“We switched car in the middle of the season last year, something that took a lot of energy. This year we can concentrate on fine tuning the car that we have. I have communicated to the team and Volkswagen Motorsport what we need to change and I have a lot of confidence in that we are going to have the package required this season,” said Ekblom.

While Ekblom has got his sights set firmly on the title of STCC 2011, things are a bit more vague for 2012 when the STCC organization has announced the new NGTC regulations to come in to force.

“I find it hard to have an opinion on NGTC before we know more about it. What I can say is that I want to drive as fast cars as possible. And I agree with Göransson on the fact that the 300 bhp in the current and future regulations is low, my wife for example drives our kids to school in a Volkswagen Golf with close to 300 bhp.
In the nineties, during the top years of Super Touring, 300 bhp was something special. That is different today. But my main focus is on this season, my three year contract with Biogas runs to this season and our goal is to be on top when the season is over,” said Ekblom.