Mattias Ekström: “Emil did fantastic navigation”

Dakar 2022 | Stage 8 | AL DUWADIMI > HAIL
January 10 ^th 2022 - 15:03 [GMT + 3]

Ekström, with his first stage win on his first participation in the Dakar, makes it victory number 2 for Audi after the success of Carlos Sainz.

“We had a very good beginning, but then in the dunes I felt I was very careful and even too slow. I didn’t have any good rhythm at all. After the regrouping, I felt a lot more confident and we caught up with Yazid and were in his dust for quite some time. I was hoping that he would let us go because I was having a day to my taste. As soon as he let me go, I was pushing hard. I had a really, really enjoyable drive and Emil did fantastic navigation for the whole stage. We didn’t even have one detail that was not perfect, so for me it was a very good day. I don’t know what it’s like to win, it’s not done yet. I guess there are some fast guys behind us arriving as well, but it’s always great when you have success. We are all fighting to have a good result. For Emil and myself, we feel like the rookies here, learning every day and trying to manage the risk and there are so many kilometres where you can have a mistake. Today, I’m happy because we didn’t do any, maybe we were too conservative, but there are still many days to go. I think the car is good. I’m also starting to get confident with the set-up. We have found a set-up that I like a lot. But we have to develop the car much more. It’s still a very young car in its lifetime”.