Mattias Ekström is the 2016 World Rallycross Champion!
Mattias Ekström is the 2016 World Rallycross Champion! The Swedish racing legend missed the final round of DTM at Hockenheim to participate in the eleventh round of the World RX Championship at Estering, Germany, with a mission to catch world’s title. And he made it, bringing his Audi S1 EKS RX to the top of the world.
Ekström finished fifth in the final run at the famous German rallycross track and secured enough points to take 2016 World RX title with one more event in the calendar. Ahead of season’s finale in November in Argentina, Ekström has 30 points more than second-placed Petter Solberg, the two-time World RX champion from 2014 and 2015.
Eriksson’s brilliant move for maiden World RX victory
Solberg finished second today at Estering, losing the first place from 20-year-old Swedish driver and freshly crowned Swedish champion Kevin Eriksson in the Olsbergs MSE’s Ford Fiesta.
Eriksson started the finals from the fourth position but made a brilliant move in the turn 1, overtaking three drivers from the outside. In the following six laps, Eriksson defended the lead and claimed his maiden World RX victory. Andreas Bakkerud completed the podium at Estering.
Besides Eriksson, one more Swedish youngster had a great weekend. The European rallycross champion Kevin Hansen finished fourth and repeated his best WRX result from Lydden Hill earlier in the season. The sixth driver in the finals was Johan Kristoffersson, who had a puncture and finished last.
Championship fight for teams’ crown is still open
Mattias Ekström will travel to Argentina as new world champion but he still has much to fight for. His team EKS RX leads in the teams’ classification, as he and Toomas Heikkinen collected 385 points so far, 17 more than Timmy Hansen and Sebastien Loeb for Team Peugeot-Hansen.
In the drivers’ standings, four driver would fight for the runner-up sport on November 26-27 in Argentina’s Autodromo Rosario. Solberg has 221 points, four more than Kristoffersson. Bakkerud is seven points behind Kristoffesson, Loeb is fifth with 194 points.
Check the full results of World RX event at Estering
Photos: fiaworldrallycross.com,