Photo: Audi Sport

Mattias Ekström eyeing third in drivers’ standings

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Audi’s Mattias Ekström is aiming to finish third in the drivers’ standings with a win at the DTM season finale at Hockenheim.

The Swede is currently seventh in the driver’s standings on 56 points; 11 points behind Gary Paffett and Bruno Spengler who are tied in sixth place.

Third and fourth placed drivers, Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens have 71 and 70 points respectively.

However, Ekström believes he and his Audi RS 5 DTM have the pace this weekend to take third in the championship.

In order to do so, he would need Spengler to finish no higher than fourth, with no Mercedes scoring.

“It’s possible,” Ekström told TouringCarTimes. “I’m on 56 points and I need to carry 12 more than Bruno [Spengler].

“It’s definitely possible though because Vietoris, Paffett and Wickens didn’t have such a good run in qualifying. However, Spengler can’t finish higher than fourth for me to take third in the drivers’ standings.

“It’s not that difficult, though. If I take care of winning and someone takes care of all the other business, then fingers crossed. It’d make me really happy after a tough year.”

The double DTM champion added he felt he could have taken pole in the final qualifying of the season, but believes he wound up seventh as a result of losing around half a second in the final sector due to going too hard.

“We had really good pace in qualifying, but I stuffed it up in the last sector,” continued Ekström. “The grip wasn’t fantastic and at the Sachs Kurve I lost around five-hundreths of a second.

“At the next corner under braking, the car slid, so I messed it up there in the first right-hand sequence; I then tried to sort it out, but then failed to nail the next part of the corner. That’s how I lost half a second in the last sector. It wasn’t so impressive.

“It was more driver, tyre and circumstance which made us finish seventh, rather than true pace.

“I’m quite sure I could have got pole, but it was a little bit of one of those days when you don’t quite nail it.

“It was more small details that made it that way, but hey, s**t happens, doesn’t it?”