Mattias Ekström is living a dream. In 2015, he would like to use what may be a unique opportunity to win the DTM with Audi and the FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX) with his privateer Team EKS at the same time.

“Everybody should and may have dreams,” says the 36-year-old Swede whose motto

‘Go hard or go home’ has become his personal hallmark. “The DTM clearly has priority for me. But the driving experience in my Audi S1 with quattro drive perfectly complements the DTM. In rallycross, I’m learning to go for maximum attack. In the DTM, you’ve got to drive with be a little more foresight because the races are longer – but I’m sure that the experience from rallycross will help me in qualifying in the DTM.”

In 2015, qualifying will be even more important and critical than in the past. “You only have 20 minutes in which 24 cars will be out on track. There’ll be traffic jam news on the radio like those on the traffic message channel for the road …We won’t have a clear track in qualifying very often and need a lot of discipline because we have to be careful not to get in anybody’s way,“ says Ekström.

Like his brand colleagues, the family man and father of two is looking forward to the new DTM format featuring two races per weekend. “This is exactly the right move for the DTM,” the Audi driver is convinced. “The fans and the drivers are getting what they love: more races. Because in 18 races you can afford to make an occasional mistake, everyone is going to attack more and drive less conservatively. It’ll be neck or nothing on Saturday and Sunday. The fans are going to see even more tough duels. And as long as the manufacturers have enough spare parts in the trucks even the race on Saturday will be anything but a walk in the park.”

2015 marks Mattias Ekström’s 15th year in Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline. Still, the Swede is ‘more fired up about the DTM than ever before.’ “I’m always particularly excited when there are a lot of innovations like this year. And I’m looking forward to the large number of races. The races are what I love most in the DTM.”

For his Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM, Ekström has selected ‘5,’ the number of the car in which he clinched his first DTM title in 2004. “But that’s not the only reason, as I generally like ‘5’ as a number because many things in life have something to do with ‘5.’”

In any case, ‘5’ perfectly fits the ‘RS 5’ – a car that he appreciates in its ‘civilian’ version as much as in the DTM variant. “The RS 5 has unique vehicle dynamics,” he enthuses about the car.

Due to the frozen technology in the DTM no major steps were possible in winter. “But even the minor modifications we made to the set-up have a major influence,” says Ekström. “Our aim is to be in optimal condition on each race weekend.”

The lap times in the pre-season tests do not mean a lot to him. “The gaps were small but nobody knows who had how many potato sacks in the car. That’s why I always particuarly look forward to the first qualifying session at Hockenheim on Saturday when everybody will finally be driving without potato sacks. That also makes it so exciting for the fans to watch the action at Hockenheim.”

As always, the Swede will be traveling to the venue in his Audi Q7. “The Q7 is a perfect family car that my children love as well,” says the Swede, who has moved his main residence to Going in Austria where he can strike a good balance between his roles as a DTM driver, rallycross team boss and family man.

Profile

Date of birth: July 14, 1978

Place of birth: Falun (S)
Residence: Going (A)
Marital status: single (partner Heidi), one son (Mats), one daughter (Hanna)
Height/weight: 1.83 m/79 kg
Motorsport since: 1993 (Audi driver since 1999)


Sporting career
1993
Kart
1994 Kart, Swedish Renault 5 Cup
1995 2nd Swedish Renault 5 Cup
1996 1st Swedish Renault 5 Cup, ‘Young Driver of the Year’
1997 2nd Swedish Touring Car Championship, ‘Rookie of the Year’
1998 8th Swedish Touring Car Championship
1999 1st Swedish Touring Car Championship (Audi A4 quattro)
2000 3rd Swedish Touring Car Championship
2001 8th DTM (Abt-Audi TT-R), 6th Nürburgring 24 Hours
2002 3rd DTM (Abt-Audi TT-R)
2003 4th DTM (Abt-Audi TT-R), 3rd Group N Rally Sweden
2004 1st DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st Group N Rally Sweden and Rally Catalunya
2005 2nd DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st Nations Cup Race of Champions
2006 8th DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st Race of Champions
2007 1st DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st Race of Champions
2008 3rd DTM (Audi A4 DTM)
2009 5th DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st Race of Champions
2010 5th DTM (Audi A4 DTM)
2011 2nd DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours (Audi R8 LMS)
2012 6th DTM (Audi A5 DTM)
2013 7th DTM (Audi RS 5 DTM)
2014 2nd DTM (Audi RS 5 DTM), 1st World RX Sweden (Audi S1 EKS RX quattro)
2015 DTM (Audi RS 5 DTM)

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