Ekstrom Clinches Dtm Title

The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters recentlyto pass. The Swede also had the support of his pit
concluded its season and Swedish Mattias Ekstromcrew and when he entered the pit lane, the team did
captured his fifth title in the final race of the season.an efficient job giving him more time to catch up with
The Swede has won the DTM championship for Audithe field. In contrast, Spengler pitted in early thus
AG in 1990, 1991, 2002, and 2004. Audi Sport Teammaking it tough for him to catch up with the rest of the
Abt Sportsline also clinched the title for the team class.field.
This year, Audi has been very successful inThe Swede finished third in the end beating Spengler
motorsports. The marque's diesel racecar has won thewho finished fourth. Ekstrom admitted that the race
24 Hours of Le Mans for the second consecutivewas not an easy one for him. "My race was very
year. At the American Le Mans, the R10 TDIdifficult from the beginning," said Ekstrom.
dominated the LM P1 class winning all the races so far."When the situation had calmed down a little bit I was
And the recent coronation at the DTM gave Audi theable to drive very fast and the car was good. But
reputation of being a heavyweight in motorsports.after six, seven laps it started oversteering. It got
Rupert Stadler, the Chairman of the Board of Audi AG,worse and worse. I fought and fought - and, still, the
commented: "All Audi employees and Audi customerssituation got really close in the end. That I managed to
can be proud of this triumph, which is the crowning ofsee the chequered flag in front of Bruno (Spengler)
our successful 2007 motorsport season. Winning thewas simply nice. So far I haven't even really relished
24 Hours of Le Mans, the American Le Mans Seriesthe feeling because the race was so exciting. I'll only
and the DTM in the same year is a fantastic teambe able to truly fathom this exploit a few hours from
achievement."now," commented the champion after the race.
Going into the final race of the season, the SwedeDr. Wolfgang Ulrich, the head of Audi motorsport, said:
needed only to place third to clinch the title. His nearest"It was a great finale for the spectators with thrilling
rival is Mercedes-Benz' Bruno Spengler. With that intouring car racing at its best from the beginning to the
mind, the team went into the race with a strategyend. Mattias (Ekström) took the decision into his
focused on the Mercedes-Benz driver. Ekstrom onlyown hands and managed to bring home the title. I think
need to finish ahead of Spengler to clinch thewe deserve the championship and are a worthy
championship which he eventually did.champion. We did a great job. I want to thank all the
The Swede took the lead on the first lap of the racemembers of the teams who had a part in this."
starting from the second row. The driver knowing thatAudi is a part of Volkswagen AG, the largest
he does not need to win to clinch the championshipEuropean automaker, and the manufacturer of reliable
drove conservatively. When Mercedes-Benz' JamieVW headlight covers.
Green attacked his lead, Ekstrom cleverly allowed him