Mattias Ekström spent his weekend competing at the DTM show-event at the Munich Olympic Stadium and is now preparing for the Total 24 Hours of Spa and the second half of the DTM season...
I’ve got to say, going to Munich was eye-opening. I love the stadium and the area around it, and it was strange – but strangely wonderful – to be driving inside the arena. To be honest, the crowd was bigger than I was expecting and my impression was that the fans who came got to see and hear something special – it was very loud with all that concrete – and probably got closer to the action than they usually would. It was very positive.
This was our first experiment with this sort of event and there were a couple of things I think could have been better. For instance, I think the format made it a little difficult for the crowd to follow who was winning. If DTM decides it wants to do this again, a format close to what they use in the Race of Champions would make it easier to understand. But, as I say, it was great to see DTM giving its huge fanbase another way to enjoy the sport.
I had some decent drives. I made a mistake against Eduardo Mortara on Saturday when he was absolutely flawless, so that was it for me. On Sunday, I was given a penalty for warming the tyres too much, and that was the end of that. The weekend finished earlier than planned, but I had plenty of pace so I enjoyed it. We were racing with our normal DTM cars so we had to be intelligent and not destroy any parts we might need in the next few races – but it was still pretty competitive.
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Next up for me is the 24 Hours of Spa race in the R8 LMS, but I’ve got some time before then to mooch around at home. After Spa we go to the Nürburgring and back into the A4 DTM, so there’s a definite sense that this is half-time in the season and a good opportunity to take a rest and get ready.
Like everyone else I’ve seen the rendering of the new A5 DTM car for 2012. It looks great, and I’m really happy that Audi have decided to race a coupé next year. With all these new cars, DTM will be really competitive next year. The improved safety levels of the cars has been discussed, but DTM has never stood still on this: in the last ten years there have always been modifications to make things better.
I don’t have any privileged information about what the new car will be like. I guess it will be quicker, but I’m only basing that on the fact that every year we find a little more pace in DTM and I don’t see that changing any time soon. That’s just how motorsport is.
The new car isn’t ready yet so there isn’t a schedule to test it. I can only say that I'm keen to do some work with Audi to fine-tune it to make sure it’s as competitive as it can be because I think the competition in 2012 is going to be massive. But before that there’s a tough competition in 2011 to deal with and I’ll be giving that my full attention for now.
Cheerio
Mattias
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