Autosportfoto

Ekstrom top qualifier after Q4

Sweden's Mattias Ekstrom is Top Qualifier in the Intermediate Classification at the opening round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Montalegre in Portugal.

Ekstrom set the fastest time in Q4 and will start from pole position in semi-final one. The DTM and World RX star is pleased with the developments made to his EKS Audi S1 Supercar in the off-season.

"I feel that when we have been testing - and I didn't do many days - I got confidence in the car quickly, luckily we had bad weather so we had a good wet setup but now we have a dry setup that is also good. I enjoy driving the car, because now I feel that I'm the boss in the cockpit. The car feels good and the times are good, so I can't really complain! To get 16 championship points is for the moment what I'm most happy about, and about the car and the way it handles," said Ekstrom.

Volkswagen RX Sweden driver Johan Kristoffersson will join Ekstrom on the front row of semi-final one and Norwegian pairing Petter Solberg and Andreas Bakkerud will share the front row for semi-final two. Robin Larsson was fourth in Q4 to back up his second fastest time in Q3 to qualify fifth. Sebastien Loeb passed Topi Heikkinen in their Q4 race after Loeb made a mistake in the first corner. Heikkinen qualifies sixth with Loeb seventh and former RX Lites Cup champion Kevin Eriksson eighth.

Sweden's Timmy Hansen, France's Davy Jeanney, Britain's Liam Doran and Sweden's Anton Marklund all qualify for the semi-finals at the first round of the season.

Zdroj: fiaworldrallycross.com