FIA World Rallycross Championship 2018, Mettet
Audi S1 EKS RX quattro #5 (EKS Audi Sport), Mattias Ekström

Audi driver Mattias Ekström experienced a promising day one in round three of the FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX) in Belgium. On the challenging circuit at Mettet, the team principal and 2016 World Champion won his round in qualifying two, setting the best time in the entire field. After two of four qualifying sessions, the Swede at the wheel of his 580-hp Audi S1 EKS RX quattro is ranked in second place overall. “We had an exciting day with a good pace. For the race on Sunday, we still need to do some homework and improve our starts for example,” said Ekström. His teammate, Andreas Bakkerud, finished day one in seventh position overall after seventh and tenth in the qualifying sessions. “For Q2, we made some improvements on the car and driving style. I used the brakes less and, initially, things were going really well,” said the Norwegian. “But then we were a little short of engine power in between, which cost us a few seconds.”