Ekström: “I thought I was in DTM”

Mattias Ekström wins his first 24 Hour race at Spa-Francorchamps with Greg Franchi and Timo Scheider, drivers who formed the crew of the No. 33 Audi. The R8 LMS of Team WRT took the lead in the race during the night after a gearbox problem in the No. 98 of Fässler-Piccini-Rockenfeller and an accident in the No. 99 of Basseng-Haase-Stippler (Team Phoenix).

The Swede, seventh in the Championship DTM, was not disoriented by the start of the very lively race. “What a race!” I thought I was in DTM because everyone was very aggressive on track?, comments the Audi driver. “There were a few accidents involving the team cars in particular, but we managed to avoid any problems and simply concentrated on driving quickly and efficiently without making any mistakes. »

Mattias Ekström is enjoying his first victory in a 24 Hour race, after having attempted several times to achieve success in such a long event. “I am particularly happy with the fact that I have tried quite often to win a 24 Hour race. Until this race, I always finished completely drained, but I finally won a big trophy to add to my list of achievements. »

Find the report of the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps by our special correspondent in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, on sale from Wednesday.