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Ekstrom fastest in free practice

Sweden's Mattias Ekstrom finished fastest in free practice at the second round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Hockenheim this morning, driving his EKS Audi S1 on what will be a busy weekend for the double DTM champion.

Ekstrom is racing in both World RX and the DTM this weekend, and feels he is able to continue his strong form from the opening round of World RX in Portugal last month, despite the change in conditions from wet and slippery at Montalegre to bone dry and sunny in Germany this weekend.

"We were very happy with our pace in Portugal, but we did both wet and dry testing. We did a couple of days in Holjes and had a good dry day so actually it was quite nice. We had good clean runs in practice, and tried some different setups. The car felt good and we're feeling confident. There were no big hiccups for us. For the moment I'm pretty happy," said Ekstrom, who will switch from the World RX Supercar to his DTM Audi after Q2 this afternoon.

"I will jump into the DTM car straight away. That's a challenge, but that's why I wanted to do it. I've done Race of Champions many times where you jump in and out of cars one to another, so I have tried it before. It's one of the biggest challenges I've every taken on my shoulders but I love big challenges. I must admit standing in the DTM Paddock last year watching the rallycross guys race was pretty painful. I asked my kind bosses if there could be a chance for me to do this and they said yes. For sure there is some pressure to deliver but it's something I love to do and I'm really happy to be doing both categories this weekend."

ZDroj: fiaworldrallycross.com