Mattias Ekström laughs off spin that cost him points and championship lead

Audi Sport driver Mattias Ekström arrived to the sixth round of the season at Zandvoort as the championship leader, and a one of the favourites as a four-time winner at the Dutch track. However, an unusual mistake rendered his race fruitless and also cost him the championship lead.

Ekström qualified tenth and came in for his scheduled pit stop on lap four, but when coming out of the pits, the Swede misjudged his braking point on cold tyres at Turn 1, ‘Tarzan’, and went off, taking a long excursion through the gravel trap.

Straight away when he braked hard to get rid of the gravel at Turn 3, he spun again and was lucky enough not to hit the barriers.

“I came for new tyres and didn’t realise they were cold, so I went off,” Ekström laughed when asked about the incident.

The Team Abt Sportsline driver couldn’t recover much, working his way up to 15th, but a puncture on lap 31 caused him to make a second tyre change, with Ekström opting to retire three laps later.

Finishing the day without any points means that Ekström has lost the championship lead in favour of fellow Audi driver René Rast, but with Rast only finishing in ninth position, the German is just one point ahead of the Swede heading into the second day of racing.