Fredrik Ekblom

Lars Fredrik Wilhelm Ekblom (born 6 October 1970) is a Swedish race car driver from Kumla. After an early career in single-seaters he switched to touring car racing where he won multiple titles in his native Swedish Touring Car Championship and later in the TTA – Racing Elite League.

Career

CART Ekblom made 13 Indy Lights starts in 1992 and 1993. He then made three starts in CART for three different teams and was entered in the 1994 and 1995 Indianapolis 500 races, but after passing rookie orientation in 1994, he never appeared for practice either year.

24 Hours of Le Mans In 1997 and 1998, Ekblom drove in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Courage Compétition and in 1999 for Nissan Motorsports.

Swedish Touring Car Championship Ekblom began racing in the Swedish Touring Car Championship where he was the series champion in 1998 in a WestCoast Racing prepared BMW 320i. Un the 2000 Swedish Touring Car Championship, he led the points standings heading into the season finale, but a mechanical failure in the last race meant he finished runner-up for the season.

After two seasons away from the championship, he went on to be champion twice more, winning his second title on his return to the series in 2003 with a Kristoffersson Motorsport–run Audi A4. He continued to drive in the series for Audi until 2006 before returning to WestCoast Racing in 2007 where he became champion for the third time. He stayed with the team for the following season where he finished runner–up to Richard Göransson. For the 2009 season, he moved to the E.ON Biogas Racing Team, driving a Volkswagen Scirocco which ran on bio–gas.

Ekblom driving for Volvo Polestar Racing at the Anderstorp round of the 2012 TTA – Racing Elite League season.

European Touring Car Championship During his time away from the Swedish Touring Car Championship, Ekblom competed in the American Le Mans Series and then the European Touring Car Championship in 2002. He drove a BMW 320i for BMW Team Belgium He finished sixth in the championship with a trio of third–place finishes as his best results.

World Touring Car Championship Ekblom competed in some rounds of the 2007 World Touring Car Championship season for BMW Team UK to help Andy Priaulx with his title campaign. He made his first appearance at the Race of Sweden before returning for the final two rounds of the season, he scored a single point at the final race in Macau.

Ekblom drove a Volvo S60 in seven rounds of the 2016 World Touring Car Championship for Polestar Cyan Racing, with a best result of fourth at Hungary race 1.

TTA / STCC Ekblom signed a three-year deal with Volvo Polestar Racing to compete in the TTA – Racing Elite League starting in 2012. Ekblom secured third on grid at the final round in Gothenburg to claim the drivers' championship title. He finished fifth in the 2013 STCC – Racing Elite League. Despite missing two races, he came third in the 2014. He was runner-up in 2015, also with a Polestar Volvo S60.

After skipping the 2016 season, Ekblom joined Kristoffersson Motorsport to compete at the 2017 TCR Scandinavia Touring Car Championship with a dealer-supported Volkswagen Golf GTI.

Racing record

American Open Wheel (key)

CART

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1997 Courage Compétition Jean-Louis Ricci Jean-Paul Libert Courage C36 LMP 265 16th 5th 1998 Courage Compétition Patrice Gay Takeshi Tsuchiya Courage C51 LMP1 126 DNF DNF 1999 Nissan Motorsports Didier Cottaz Marc Goossens Courage C52 LMP 335 8th 7th

Complete Swedish Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete European Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete World Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points 2007 BMW Team UK BMW 320si BRA1 BRA2 NED1 NED2 ESP1 ESP2 FRA1 FRA2 CZE1 CZE2 POR1 POR2 SWE112 SWE214 GER1 GER2 GBR1 GBR2 ITA111 ITA212 MAC116 MAC29 20th 1 2016 Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 FRA1NC FRA210 SVK110 SVK28 HUN14 HUN211 MAR17 MAR211 GER18 GER27 RUS113 RUS212 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN18 CHN26 QAT1 QAT2 13th 47

Complete Scandinavian Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete TTA–Racing Elite League results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2012 Volvo Polestar Racing Volvo S60 TTA KAR2 AND1 GÖT5 FAL4 KAR1 AND2 TIE2 GÖT4 1st 151