Mattias Ekstrom has his eye on looking to try and secure the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Drivers Championship and his first chance to do this comes at the World RX of Germany, held at the iconic Estering circuit in Buxtehude.
After taking second place last time out at the World RX of Latvia, Ekstrom has a twenty-seven point lead in the Drivers Championship and he will need a thirty point advantage after this weekend World RX event in Germany to secure the title before the last round in Argentina. However the former double DTM Champion is well aware that anything can change quickly in World RX as witnessed in 2015, where he finished the event in fifteenth place.
“There is still a long way to go,” says Ekström. “A total of 60 points are still up for grabs at the last two rounds. One mistake and the lead could be gone in a blink of an eye.”
However, he is also keeping in mind the historic chance he has to add to the Audi Motorsport legacy of titles in many forms of motor racing:
“Stig (Blomqvist) drove to the title with the Audi quattro and in the WEC the Audi R18 e-tron Quattro was successful,” says Ekström. “Now I have a chance to add a chapter to this success story with my Audi S1 EKS RX Quattro.”
Meanwhile team-mate Topi Heikkinen is looking for a return to form where he can reach the Supercar Final and help the EKSRX outfit to secure their first ever FIA World Rallycross Teams Championship. The Fast Finn has not seen the Final since the World RX of Canada and with rivals Team Peugeot-Hansen closing to within 8 points of the lead in Latvia, he is looking to do everything he can play his part in helping the team get the title.
“We top the standings with an eight point gap on Team Peugeot-Hansen and we will push hard to leave Germany for the last round in Argentina in the same position,” says Heikkinen, who has yet to secure a win for the Audi squad in 2016.
