Biography Mattias Ekström

Many talents, long career

Mattias Ekström is a racing driver for all occasions. The Swede was world champion in rallycross, twice DTM champion and won the drivers’ championship four times and the Nations Cup at the Race of Champions once. In the world of electromobility, he is seamlessly continuing his winning streak as champion of the Pure ETCR 2021, runner-up in the FIA ETCR 2022 and runner-up in the Extreme E 2023.

Mattias Ekström has been involved in professional motorsport for more than two and a half decades. And yet he is a relative newcomer to the Dakar Rally: 2023 was only his third time taking part in the longest and toughest cross-country rally in the world. After a trial year in a side-by-side model, he contested his first Dakar Rally in a car for Team Audi Sport in 2022. As stage winner, ninth overall and best Audi driver, he and co-driver Emil Bergkvist made their mark straight away. He was also the best Audi driver last year in 14th place.

One of the things that set Mattias Ekström apart is his professional approach to new challenges and his ability to quickly learn the basics of each new discipline. Whether it was touring car racing in his home country where it all began, the DTM in Germany with the Class 1 touring cars, the Spa 24 Hours in the Audi R8 LMS, the World Rallycross Championship, the Race of Champions or electric racing on the circuit and off-road: within a very short space of time, the now 45-year-old Swede was one of the winners and soon also one of the championship contenders.

At the Dakar Rally, he learned that mistakes are part of everyday life and that almost nobody gets through without setbacks. Ekström has experienced more than once in his still young career as a Dakar participant that a stage win can still come at the end of a subjectively unsatisfactory day. Accordingly, he knows how to adapt, minimize risks and also take a step back from time to time. Compared to the reproducible cycles in a circuit race, desert rallies contain countless surprises day after day.

Mattias Ekström has learned to adapt to this. And he has another quality that is extremely valuable and that his team can rely on: The racing professional has proven more than once in his outstanding career that he is prepared to subordinate his own ambitions to the goals of a team if necessary.

Mattias Ekström (S)

Date of birth: July 14, 1978
Place of birth: Falun (S)
Place of residence: Munich (D)
Marital status: single (partner Heidi), one son (Mats), one daughter (Hanna)
Height/weight: 1,83 m/77 kg
Motorsport since: 1993 (Audi driver 1999–2018 and again since 2021)

Career as a driver:

1993 Kart
1994 Kart, Swedish Renault 5 Cup
1995 2nd place Swedish Renault-5-Cup
1996 1st place Swedish Renault-5-Cup, “Young Driver of the Year”
1997 2nd place Swedish Touring Car Championship, “Rookie of the Year”
1998 8th place Swedish Touring Car Championship
1999 1st place Swedish Touring Car Championship (Audi A4 quattro)
2000 3rd place Swedish Touring Car Championship
2001 8th place DTM (Abt-Audi TT-R), 6th place 24 hours Nürburgring
2002 3rd place DTM (Abt-Audi TT-R)
2003 4th place DTM (Abt-Audi TT-R), 3rd place Group N Rally Sweden
2004 1st place DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st place Group N Rally Sweden and Catalunya
2005 2nd place DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st place Nations Cup Race of Champions
2006 8th place DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st place Race of Champions
2007 1st place DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st place Race of Champions
2008 3rd place DTM (Audi A4 DTM)
2009 5th place DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st place Race of Champions
2010 5th place DTM (Audi A4 DTM)
2011 2nd place DTM (Audi A4 DTM), 1st place Spa 24 Hours (Audi R8 LMS)
2012 6th place DTM (Audi A5 DTM)
2013 7th place DTM (Audi RS 5 DTM)
2014 2nd place DTM (Audi RS 5 DTM), 10th place World Rallycross Championship (Audi S1 EKS RX quattro)
2015 3rd place DTM (Audi RS 5 DTM), 6th place World Rallycross Championship (Audi S1 EKS RX quattro)
2016 7th place DTM (Audi RS 5 DTM), 1st place World Rallycross Championship (Audi S1 EKS RX quattro)
2017 2nd place DTM (Audi RS 5 DTM), 2nd place World Rallycross Championship (Audi S1 EKS RX quattro)
2018 2nd place World Rallycross Championship (Audi S1 EKS RX quattro)
2019 World Rallycross Championship (Audi S1 EKS RX quattro)
2020 2nd place World Rallycross Championship (Audi S1 EKS JC RX quattro)
2021 1st place Pure ETCR, Extreme E, Audi Dakar project
2022 2nd place FIA ETCR, 9th place Dakar Rally (Audi RS Q e-tron)
2023 1st place Race of Champions, 2nd place Extreme E, 14th place Dakar Rally (Audi RS Q e-tron), 9th place Morocco Rally (Audi RS Q e-tron)

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