Ekstrom partners with Cupra to compete in ETCR with his own team

EKS is the three-letter code with which Ekstrom competed in the DTM, a championship he won in 2004 and 2007, and gives its name to the young but successful team of the Swedish driver.

Cupra raced in 2021 in the first edition of the ETCR, the 100% electric touring car championship, with the aim of building a winning car in its clear commitment to the electric competition. This goal was achieved thanks to winning the two titles at stake: the constructors' title and also the drivers' title with Mattias Ekstrom in their Cupra e-Racer.

For the new season, Cupra has decided to end its collaboration with Zengo Motorsport, the team with which it officially competed in the championship in 2021, to formalise a new agreement with EKS.

EKS is a team with solid experience in the world of rallycross, where they have been competing since 2014 as an official Audi team and with which the Swedish driver was crowned as world champion in 2016, just three years after launching the project in a small garage in the town of Fagersta in his home country.

Mattias Ekstrom, Cupra EKS team

Photo by: Cupra

In addition to rallycross, where they continue to operate building cars for private teams after the departure of the official brands, the Swedish squad has recently competed in the Dakar, achieving a 1-2 in the T3 category, with Chaleco Lopez winning the class ahead of team-mate Sebastian Eriksson.

From this season, the team will be called Cupra EKS and will start with the same objective as in 2021: to win. The team will run the victorious Cupra e-Racer with 500kW of power (680bhp) with an exciting new livery.

In addition, the driver line-up will also undergo some changes, although it will not be difficult to guess that the current ETCR champion Ekstrom will be on the grid this year.

Ekstrom confirmed that “the team is fully focused on the forthcoming season. We share the passion of the sport and together we look forward to score many more race wins and titles under the Cupra EKS banner”.

The ETCR gains FIA ​​World Cup category status this season, with seven events in seven different countries, visiting iconic circuits such as Jarama, Zolder and Pau. The 2022 ETCR season starts at Pau on 6-8 May.

Mattias Ekstrom, Cupra EKS team

Photo by: Cupra