Nico Müller: World Rallycross debut with EKS result of “bet” with Mattias Ekström

Audi’s Nico Müller has revealed to TouringCarTimes, that his debut in the World Rallycross Championship is the result of a bet with Audi DTM teammate and EKS team owner, Mattias Ekström.

Müller, 25, will make his World Rallycross debut in a fourth Audi S1 EKS RX quattro alongside regular drivers Ekström, Reinis Nitišs, and Toomas Heikkinen in the next round of the World Rallycross Championship, in Lohéac, France. The event takes place over the weekend of September 1-3.

When asked by TouringCarTimes how his debut World Rallycross appearance happened, Müller recalled: “The first time I went to an Rallycross event was for the Barcelona round last October. Audi had guests, and I was pretty much there to take care of them.

“Mattias [Ekström] and I had a bet there, which was about how many likes a little video on his Facebook page would get. It was nothing super interesting.

“If I won the bet, then I would have got a taste for the Audi S1 EKS RX, but if I lost, I had to wash the tyres.

“I ended up washing a fair few sets of the team’s tyres, so let’s just say I got a different insight to EKS and World Rallycross, but I still enjoyed the experience!”

Müller explained that having Ekström as his teammate at Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline for the last two seasons in the DTM increased his interest in World Rallycross. He pointed to his attendance at the World Rallycross test session after the Barcelona round in April 2017 as another step towards making his debut in the series.

“We went to Barcelona again this year, and after the race weekend there was a test. Mattias gave me the chance to test his car, and I think I did okay, because we wouldn’t be where we are today!

“I really enjoyed myself, and we said we should make something happen, but at that time, we didn’t know what and when it would be because there were several options. I think we’ve found a good option with Lohéac, because EKS wanted to put a fourth car on the grid.”

As well as his role as an Audi DTM driver, Müller has also raced in the Blancpain GT series with an Audi R8 LMS. He also has experience as an open-wheel racer. Prior to his move to the DTM in 2014, he competed in GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5.

His previous career is another factor in his attraction to World Rallycross, as he believes the experience will help him become “more complete as a racing driver.”

“I’m attracted to try as many things as I possibly can in the world of motorsport,” he continued.

“I have the chance to do DTM and endurance racing with Audi, and I’ve also competed in Formula categories. Now I am going into something completely new, and I love that challenge. It’s not learning not from zero, but I think these experiences make you more complete as a racing driver.

“I see World Rallycross as a chance to make a big step forward in that respect, because the cars are total beasts. It’s a small Audi S1 with 560 BHP, which you need to tame. The tracks are also spectacular because you’re jumping, and you’re in fourth or fifth gear up against walls on gravel.”

He added that the close nature of racing in the DTM will help him adapt to World Rallycross, as he switches to a four-wheel drive car for the first time in his career.

“The wheel-to-wheel racing we have in DTM will help, because we have some small contact there and we need to be super precise in our driving. I think that relates quite well to what you have to do in rallycross, except it’s more extreme there because you more or less race single file.

“It’s even more likely that there will be contact, especially in the first corner. I’m a little bit used to that! In terms of pure driving, Mattias says that the high attention to detail you to drive in DTM helps a little, so I hope that I will be able to make use of that.”

Müller’s debut will make him the ninth driver from a top-flight touring car championship to make his debut in the World Rallycross championship since it began in 2014. In addition to Ekström, who combines his DTM and rallycross outings, other touring car drivers who have switched full-time to the series include former Audi DTM driver Timo Scheider who left the DTM at the end of last season, plus nine-time World Rally champion and former World Touring Car Championship race winner, Sébastien Loeb.

Others who have made “wild card” appearances include four-time World Touring Car champion Yvan Muller, 2013 British Touring Car champion Andrew Jordan, and Scandinavian Touring Car Championship race winner Edward Sandström.

Does Müller, then, believe that World Rallycross runs the risk of becoming a “bit of fun” or “retirement home” for touring car drivers?

“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “We should see it as a positive that drivers from other series’ are attracted to World Rallycross.

“With the current drivers who are fighting for victories, they have been in World RX for a few years, and it shows that you can’t just come from anywhere and treat it as “retirement home”, because they wouldn’t be able to show the other guys how it’s done.

“I think as long as that’s the case and the right people are running up the front, then everything is fine. It shows that the level is very high, and that the series is becoming more professional and heading in the right direction.”

The Lohéac round of the 2017 World Rallycross Championship will see a maximum entry in all FIA classes with a total of 60 Supercars, and is estimated to be one of the biggest events on the calendar, with over 70,000 fans expected to attend.

Müller will be the first ever Swiss driver to compete in the championship.