Ekström enjoyed World RX one-off return at Spa-Franchorchamps.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media

2016 World Champion Mattias Ekström made a one-off return to World RX with JC Raceteknik at Spa-Francorchamps.

The 40-year old Swede called time on his full-time World RX career in November last year. But, he did not discount the possibility of a privateer entry in the future. 

Having watched the opening round of the championship in Abu Dhabi, Ekström started to imagine racing again and was tempted at the prospects of racing up Eau Rouge. He called up Joel Christoffersson, JC Raceteknik owner to inquire if he could use the 2016 title-winning car that he had sold to the team. A deal was reached and Ekström would return in his tile winning Audi S1 Supercar. 

The Swede's return was not the easiest despite showing good speed. He needed to battle with traffic throughout the weekend.

“We had a lot of fun this weekend," he said. "It felt like a reunion with the car and the guys. For sure you want to have a good result in the end, but I think this track is very different so it’s not so easy, but we still had lots of fun."

The Swede claimed his best result of the weekend winning Q3 race 2. He progressed to the semi-finals but was pushed wide in the first corner and would not progress any further after finishing the race in fifth place. 

"I had a lot of fun, we did some good starts and I made some mistakes," said Ekström. 

Languishing the middle of the pack in most races, he needed to get his elbows out but enjoyed the experience.

"I was in the middle of the pack battling, which was quite nice because you learn things that you don’t when you’re up front," he adds. "When you’re in the middle of the pack, everybody races like there’s no tomorrow, which is pretty cool.”

TEXT - Junaid Samodien