It's been a rare weekend off for Mattias with no DTM or sportscars to race, just a bit of ‘mucking around’ at home and a chance to reflect on the first half of a long season...
I love racing cars, absolutely and completely, but it’s been nice to have a weekend off. I’ve enjoyed some family time, played tennis, gone out to race my bike and, just as I suspect everyone reading this blog did, sat down to watch the F1 grand prix from Silverstone. I even got the barbecue out because the weather has been awesome. I’m feeling pretty recharged and ready to rumble in Munich.
The DTM show event we’re having in the Olympic Stadium is going to be a bit like the Race of Champions. I think it’s good that DTM try something new. I’m keen to give it a go, and it will be interesting to see what the fans make of seeing us racing our DTM cars on a specially created track inside a stadium. We can’t really go sideways because our cars don’t have that sort of steering lock, so I’m a little apprehensive about that. If they’ve been to the actual Race of Champions they might be expecting more than we can offer – but then maybe the races will be fantastic and everyone will be wowed.
My next proper DTM race isn’t until August when we’re going back to the Nürburgring. It seems like I’m always there at the moment, which is fine by me because I love it up there. But that seems a long way off right now. We seem to be at a very natural halfway point in the DTM year, though I hope I’m nowhere near halfway in my points tally for 2011. I want the second half of the year to be much more successful than the first. There’s 50 points up for grabs and I’d like as many of those as possible.
'If they’ve been to the actual Race of Champions they might be expecting more than we can offer – but then maybe the races will be fantastic and everyone will be wowed'
The first half of the year hasn’t been very good. It’s been a combination of things: some weekends we’ve been quick but had problems or made small mistakes; other weekends we just haven’t found the right setup – and you can’t afford mistakes or anything less than a perfect setup in DTM nowadays. DTM is a package of the team, the car and the driver. We all have to work together in harmony. When it’s working, it’s all good, but get one little thing wrong and you have no chance.
I think maybe we’ve had some bad luck too. At the Norisring last time out I was within one second of the lead at the pitstops and somehow finished the race seventh and I really didn’t feel like I deserved that, but that’s how sports are – individual results don’t always equal the effort you put in.
Mattias Ekström searches for grip on the Norisring © Audi Motorsport
If I’d had a run like that ten years ago, when I was a rookie, I’d probably have been more concerned than I am now. As it stands, I don't think things are too bad because we’ve been competitive in practice and qualifying and fast in racing. We just haven’t put all of that together into a trouble-free weekend yet.
That’s what we’re aiming for. It’s no good complaining about what might have been because the bottom line in DTM is the result. The guy who wins is a hero and the rest… well, nobody cares. You can go from hero to zero in the space of a minute. That’s part of the charm.
Cheerio
Mattias
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