A Bit on the Side – on Gravel

In his main profession the Swede Mattias Ekström is an exceptionally successful DTM star. For the Red Bull Skoda team he now has a chance to indulge in his second passion at the Sweden Rally, namely drifting on snow, ice and gravel.

Asphalt and gravel crunch, as the saying goes in racing driver circles. In actual fact there is hardly a pilot who has been successful in both rallies and ring races. One of the big exceptions is Mattias Ekström. The Swede grew up on asphalt. At the age of 15  he launched his career in the Swedish Cart Championship. At the age of 26 he won Germany’s Deutsche Tourenwagen Car Masters (DTM), the most prestigious and popular international touring car racing series, as an Audi driver (and the youngest driver ever.) In addition to burning his wheels on asphalt, Ekström’s second big passion is drifting on gravel. And here, too, he is particularly skilful. In 2004 he took the entire rally world by surprise when he won the World Championship runs in Sweden and Spain in the series-related N Group Cars. In 205 he finished tenth in the overall rankings in the Swedish Rally in spite of a driving mechanism defect.

Promising Climb to the Top

Ekström’s career can be seen as a sort of systematic climb to the top. It took him two years to win in the overall rankings at the Swedish Renault 5 Cup and three years to win the overall rankings in the Swedish Touring Car Cup and four years to win the overall rankings in the DTM. The Swede cannot really relate to predictions that he could become the World Champion in rally in five years.  “My main focus continues to be the DTM”,  Mattias explains. After winning the 2004 series he finished second in the overall rankings and in December 2005 he signed a three-year contract with Audi.

Gravel Helps Asphalt

Excursions on gravel are always welcome. In February 2006 Ekström will pilot a Fabia WRC of the Red Bull Skoda team at the Sweden Rally. His goal: “To improve last year’s tenth place.” The preparations for the next DTM season will not negatively impact the rally. Ekström: “On the contrary, there is no better preparation.” As the Swede says, in rally driving you learn to approach driving with greater precision. “When my car deviates half a mile from the ideal line at the DTM I mess up my running time. If I veer off half a meter too far to the right at full throttle in the Sweden Rally, I not only lose time, I and my Skoda also land in the woods. And pretty deep into the woods.”