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Q&A with world Rx champ Mattias Ekstrom

It was announced last week that 2016 FIA World Rallycross Champion Mattias Ekstrom has secured Audi Sport backing for his EKS team, so we caught up with the World Champion to find out more.

Q: After three years as a privately run team in World RX, how does it feel to have secured backing from Audi for this year?

ME: "For me it's really great because it means the EKS project can continue, and also continue with style, which I hope we can do on and off track to stay competitive. For me it means everything."

Q: You're very proud of winning both World RX championships last year as a private team, but what excites you about the challenge of trying to win championships together with a manufacturer?

ME: "I mean it's always nice to be World Champion, no discussion. To try and achieve that with the support of Audi is a big honour. It's a big honour when you race for yourself privately, but a bigger honour when you race for a manufacturer. For sure if I would manage to win with Audi it would definitely beat the first one."

Q: What difference does having manufacturer support make to EKS?

ME: "I think the biggest difference will be that we will have more resources on and off track. I hope from the technical side that we will get the cars to run faster and the media, press and marketing activities to be even better than they are."

Q: What preparations for this season has the team been undertaking over the winter?

ME: "We tested before Christmas and tried to develop some small things and there are small updates everywhere. I would say there are evolutions of the car coming but no revolution. Everyone will see in Barcelona."

Q: Will you build new cars for 2017?

ME: "It's still not decided yet, we have some ideas but I think in a couple of weeks we will know."

Q: Petter Solberg announced Volkswagen support recently for him and Johan Kristoffersson, what does it mean for the championship that more manufacturers are supporting existing teams?

ME: "For me, to have four teams, which I estimated it would be, with manufacturer support is really great. There's not so many championships in the world that has a lot of support from manufacturers and I think rallycross has been growing really well since I was first there in 2013."

Q: The level has risen year-on-year since 2014, do you think the challenge of even making it into the finals in 2017 is greater than ever?

ME: "Yes, definitely. If you listen to the rumours of who will be racing, outside of the factory-supported cars there will be three or four places to get into the semis and then into the final it's going to be more than hard."

Q: Which event are you most looking forward to on the World RX calendar?

ME: "Definitely Barcelona. I love the track, love the place, love the paddock, love the weather, so going there as the first race will be really mega. Nearly every track I like to go to, but Barcelona is my favourite not only because of the track but also the surroundings."

Zdroj: fiaworldrallycross.com