Ekstrom surprised by victory

Each national team in the knock-out competition was made up of one 'racer' and one 'rallier', however, with seven-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen also part of the Scandinavian entry, Ekstrom had to race against the rally drivers thanks to his small rally experience, including 10th in this year's Swedish Rally.

Ekstrom's was paired with Rally Australia winner Francois Duval in the preliminary round, before having to beat double World Champion Marcus Gronholm in the quarter-finals, but he won both encounters.

"When I woke up this morning, I had one of those mornings which I did not feel that I wouldn't have a nice day," Ekstrom told autosport.com. "I thought I'd give it a try. Last year, I wouldn't say the track was cramping, but if feels narrow and I just had to find a way how to drive this cars.

"Then I saw that I would have to race Duval and Gronholm and then I thought no! They are really the worst guys to meet. They are very good at driving rally cars so I thought I will do my best and decide where they are afterwards and then I managed to beat both of them.

"Then I thought if I can beat these two guys I thought I know I can win the whole event. I was believing I would be very strong.

"I know I am quick when everything is fixed but I also know they are very quick and I think that everybody do their best but just to find the rhythm to gain that extra tenth of a second on my side, so far they have been on my side.

"It is always nice to beat the names. When I did the Swedish Rally I beat some established names on some stages like Petter Solberg for example. I know the capacity is there but I need more rally experience to be a little bit more consistent."