Ekstrom: 2007 title means more

Whereas the Swede had secured his first championship with a round to spare, the 2007 series came down to a three-way decider at Hockenheim last weekend. Ekstrom arrived at the finale just two points clear of Mercedes' Bruno Spengler and four ahead of fellow Audi driver Martin Tomczyk.

While Tomczyk was ruled out when he suffered a puncture early on, Spengler kept the title fight alive until the last lap as he caught Ekstrom in the closing stages and put him under heavy pressure for third. Ekstrom held on, and was able to clinch the title - the first for Audi since his 2004 success.

"When I crossed the finish line it was an incredible satisfaction: this title came with a huge amount of pressure," Ekstrom told Autosprint.

"In 2004, when I took my first title in DTM, it was much simpler. We won several races and there was less pressure.

"It was important to take the title back to Ingolstadt. We've done a fine job and we deserve this satisfaction. Now I can smile and I'll be able to celebrate this victory for several months."

The build-up to the final round was particularly tense after Audi decided to withdraw all their cars from the previous race following a series of collisions with Mercedes drivers.

Both manufacturers pledged to ensure that there would be no repeat of the controversy at the Hockenheim decider, and Audi boss Wolfgang Ullrich paid tribute to Mercedes after a trouble-free finale.

"It's been a really tight season, our Mercedes rivals have made our lives really difficult so they fully deserve our admiration: they have been really tough rivals as usual," he told Autosprint.

"In this race there was a lot of tension, but the main players have behaved in a very fair manner and they've put up a really great show."